Writing with prisoners?

[Satinesque]

Hey, Lex! You're an English teacher? I know where to go to, now, when I want to get real good with my English stuff! How am I doing, so far?

[Cinestry]

I've never written one, but I've taught a few HOW to write.

Lex

That's pretty interesting! How did that work?

Also I brought this topic up in my linguistics class yesterday and there was this girl that used to write with two prisoners. One became a good friend, the other somehow added her on Facebook after the second letter and from then on started everything he said to her with "hello beautiful".. Creepy I'd say.
Its sad for the people that don't mean to do any harm though

[Hardheaded1]

If you have interest in prisoners, I'd highly recommend visiting the prison. Go through a ministry group or tutoring or literacy, or such.

I used to visit the intake unit for the state prison, and the men were all too young, maybe 18-25 on average. Not a one of them was guilty. Their lives had sorta ended tragically early.

My perspective comes from several places, one including my grandmother working in juvenile probation, and seeing that the system doesn't hurry any kid off to prison. They offend, and offend, and offend, and finally it ends up in prison after they use up all their chances and markers. And, by that time, the truth is not in them.

Visiting a prison removes all the romantic, idealized bullshit that Hollywood cranks out every two years with another all-prisoners-are-hapless-victims flick. Most prisoners are exactly what they seem -- selfish men who took, used, beat, or swindled their way to that point, and few know what honest work is.

Yes, there are exceptions. Yes, there are too many who start with simple pot charges, but they go much further. Few are there for just being busted with a joint.

Life choices. They matter. Other people matter. Many men in prison do not believe that deep down. Go visit them. See what your impressions are. The work is a difficult and wrenching as counseling addicts or youth.

And if you're tough enough, try to help the ones, the few, that are interested in a re-do. But, you'll never find it romanticized again. The movies are lies.

As for the "hello, beautiful" remark, there is nothing creepy about that in the least. He is trapped in a prison. He is a human. He is lonely. Guys fixate on girls all the time. There isn't anything creepy. He just said what he was thinking, and he did so overtly. If she thought it would be a platonic interest for him, she is too naive to be doing it. He's not a pet in a monitor.

[Beaux]

I'm honestly quite fascinated by this idea, but then again it almost seems too good to be true, doesn't it?

Ummm...in what way??!
~Beaux

[Beaux]

I'd have no problem with writing to (preferably male) prisoners. I'd make it clear (because, it's true) that I no longer meet people and that I'm a recluse and that would do away with the risks involved with contact with any prisoner/s after their release.

Are you INSANE!?!? "Oh my! I have a new pen pal who is a recluse! When I get our, I will just show up on his door, kill him and take over his finances! As a recluse no one will even notice he is missing!".
SMH...
~Beaux

[Beaux]

My guess is that I don't need any one-way letters, with email?

Your "guess" is inaccurate. Your IP address leads right back to your actual physical address.
~Beaux

[Lexington]

That's pretty interesting! How did that work?

In addition to a bunch of other stuff, I'm also a GED tutor. I've done tutoring in a bunch of places, including public schools (after hours), libraries, halfway houses, and (yes) prisons. My main focus is math, but when I tutored in prison, it was mainly as a "substitute" and sort of just took whatever was available - that often ended up being reading comprehension and writing.

Prisoners generally were really good students, behavior-wise. None of them were being forced into GED studies, so if they were there, they wanted to be there - as such, they nearly always hunkered down and tried to get the work done. Many of them weren't very good academically - either through having learning disabilities, or from simply being way out of practice.

Oh, and I have a few people I e-mail in prison. They all use something called CorrLinks, which operates as something of a third party conduit between the prisoners and the outside world. I THINK that this eliminates the potential of learning your ISP address, as CorrLinks simply provides the content of the e-mail via a webpage. Also, from my very limited use of the program, it seems the prisoners with access to the program seem to be those in for lesser offenses, and those who are "keeping their nose clean" while incarcerated. One prisoner I communicated with ended up losing his e-mail privileges by doing something or other.

Lex

[Cinestry]

Ummm...in what way??!
~Beaux

Good question, im not even sure haha. I'm studying linguistics and I'm really interested in all types of communication in general, so when I read the article it mainly fascinated me how something so simple as contact via letters could make a difference in their future. I said it seemed too good to be true, because I don't think it'll work as well in real life as it does on paper.

[LJay]

I remember thinking about this in the abstract many years ago. It seemed like a good idea.

Then I ended up with a friend in prison. Letters and phone calls were a completely different experience than I had expected. Prison is a different world. The environment there and the things that happen there made our communication very strange and awkward. It was a difficult and a very wrenching experience.

[Pix]

Be aware that while many are lonely and will appreciate your company, plenty are con artists who find ways to get you to send money, and even if you get a decent one he may share your address with someone else as a favor (given their life there I can't say I blame them for that but it is something to be aware of).

Also, guards read the mail. (Btw, as a linguist you might find it interesting how savvy many prisoners--the ones from gangs--are with sophisticated codes, including WW2 codes that they modify in ways that even baffle FBI codebreakers, and is part of how some continue to run criminal ops from behind bars.)

Many know people on the outside so if you offend the wrong one or otherwise make yourself an attractive target you can be targeted by those outside of prison who work for or otherwise do favors for their imprisoned partners. I knew a prison librarian that learned to carry a gun because of that...after failing to get her address by asking they asked other questions and learning of another library she'd worked at prior one sent that library trying to look legite in asking for contact info (even a phone number is enough to google a map to the homes of many people--and btw, they don't need ALL of your phone number if they have a rough idea where you live). Luckily the librarian who read it recognized it as coming from prison and let the prison librarian know. It's unknown why he wanted her address but he was part of a gang that operated outside of prison (that is he could've easily sent people after her).

Also be aware that some gangs are savvy at using the system to find info on you.

I'm not against you making contact, btw, I just thought these are things you should know before you start. And while there are a lot of bad apples there I expect if you put everyone in prison with little else to lose most of us would go as bad pretty fast ourselves.