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Must read Terms of Service & Privacy Policy and be at least 18

 
smashedlotus

hello!
i was just wondering about how long it takes for you guys to get letters back from your ppp's. i recently bought a po box and was trying to figure out how often i should check it.

let me know!
thanks.


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meelaaniiaa

Hello! I'm new here and I have an important question. I emailed an inmate a week ago. It said they would print it out and the prisoner would get it as a letter. I entered an incorrect address because I was unsure and afraid to enter my real address. A few days later I changed the address on my profile to my real address. My email is real, it's not fake. So my question is: will the inmate I wrote to still get my mail/letter? or is there another way how he can contact me? And will I get something back, or will something be able to reach me? even though I have changed my address? Because I think he might be sending a letter back to the wrong address now. I sent him the letter last week on May 10th. And immediately changed my address to the real one two days later when I realized that maybe no message would reach me. hope it is understandable. As I am also from Germany, I think my situation might be more complicated because the letter that will be sent back to me has to be sent overseas. by the way, if it helps: the inmate comes from illinois.

 
Jayvanh

I live in Germany and regularly send letters to California. It took weeks for the first letter to reach me. I had provided my email address so his mother could write to me in between and give me the information that he replied. In general, letters take a very long time from Germany to America and back. That's why I found jmail.cc. There you can write and send letters. It only takes up to 5 days and if you make yourself a mailbox, the answers are even faster.

 
SierraLeoneeeee03

Hi! So I've written to an inmate here in WAP a few months ago and I've received a response via GTL recently. I was about to send a message but unfortunately, I have insufficient funds to do so. Tried making a deposit but an error message always pops up and tells me to contact support. Tried contacting them but no response yet. I tried verifying my Philippine phone number but can't receive a verification text maybe because of an incorrect format or something. I'm kind of clueless about how to proceed as I've been wanting to reply to them as timely as I can.

 
Emmafiebs86

Great info! 

 
Lucas de Castro

oii amg, então, vc só mandou a carta pelo email dele né?, vcs ainda conversam?, sou novo por aqui kkkkkkk mas já mandei pra alguns hihi 

 
Svetlanalydiaa

Has anyone wrote to inmates or an inmate in Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, Oregon?

 
Martim23

I wrote to an inmate in Oregon and i live in Ohio. I didn't use the wap email option. I simply typed my letter, used the address listed on their porfile, and mailed it via USPS. It's been almost two weeks and i wasn't sure if that was a normal amount of time to wait for a response. I don't know how often they get mail or how often they can send mail out, especially with the pandemic. Any information about how all this works would be helpful.

 
seeyounextues

other could be securus. depends on the state

 
Nicoleyoungg

I was just wondering the best way to mail my prisoner on his insuititinal email it says other so I'm assuming only written letter, I revived a written letter back but I was wondering if there's any other way to send letters online as I need to wait next month to write him back.

 
nihilistbluess

well, i wrote on march 30th by write a prisoner mail and i get his reply on june 1st. i'm in brazil so it takes time but due the pandemic i guess mailing its slower than ever. he also told me that he got my mail just on april 16th. yeah its taking timeeee

 
Kirsten

It's not even been a month... I definitely would not worry and wait a little longer.

 
sophhie.x

Hi!

Just wondering does anyone know how long it takes for inmates to write back? I'm from the UK (I did write to those willing to correspond outside the US) and I wrote on the 28th of March and I still haven't had a reply from either. Should I give it a little longer? Or try again? I'm unsure what to do! Help! 

Thanks guys x

 

 

 
Tea93

Hi! I'm from the UK. It's my first time writing to an inmate from the US by snail mail, and was wondering what the max time I should expect to hear a reply? Thank you.

 
qertup

hello

 
VioletGrey

Nayboogie - that's not quite true. 

Email for us means instantaneous. Email in the prison context means that it's sent electronically, but it goes to an intermediary place to be read and approved before it's sent on to your pen pal, or from them to you. 
Each prison has a different set up: GTL, Securus, JPay, Corrlinks, Connect Network etc. Then within those, they have their own process for it. For instance, Texas & Colorado are the States where they only have JPay as incoming mail, and it's printed off and given out, and replied to as a handwritten letter. Most other States have two way messaging where the inmates can use a kiosk or a tablet to reply, but are available to them at different times or frequencies etc. 

You can look up the specific prison you're writing to here on JPays availability page: 

https://www.jpay.com/Pavail.aspx 

To do so, just choose your pen pals State, then pick their prison from the drop down list. 

All Federal prisons use Trulincs, or as we know it, Corrlinks as their facility email service. So you can't use JPay to email a Federal inmate, and you can't use Corrlinks to message an inmate in Texas State prison. 
Here on Write a Prisoner, the inmates bio should have their institution email, meaning the one that is available at that prison. So you only have a few choices when it comes to writing. You can use snail (postal) mail, and write or type a physical paper letter and send it by post to the address provided. You can sign up to the institution mail listed - JPay, Corrlinks etc. and begin correspondence that way. Or you can use a service like Jmail to send letters but have a virtual mail box as such, if you don't want to use your home address for any reason. 
There is no email like we know it where you'll receive emails in your regular email inbox, it's all done on secure email platforms. 
 

As for how long does mail take to reach you? How long is a piece of string? It could be anywhere from a couple of hours, on JPay, to a week or 10 days, for JPay and postal mail, to months if you're overseas and using postal mail. It depends. I wrote a comment above that outlines some of the reasons mail can be delayed or the response doesn't come right away. It depends on so many factors that it's not worth worrying about, because it'll happen when it happens. And if more than 3 months has passed with no reply then maybe you could start looking at more ads for someone else to write to. 
 

For everyone involved in your pen pal journey, just be patient. Worry isn't going to speed things up either, so you might as well just relax and get on with life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Nayboogie

I think patience is the number one quality to have or develop when writing a prisoner :)  Most of the time, how slow the communication process is, is totally not their fault.

 
Nayboogie

Samantha - you do not HAVE to write someone through Jpay but you can if their profile has a Jpay link. It's important to remember that they do not all have access to Jpay kiosks or tablets. Usually, the prison will print off a Jpay email and give it to the prisoner. That's why it is important that if you do send a Jpay email, you include your address information so that the inmate can reply to you through snail mail. Jpay responses depend on whether the inmate has a stamp, the prison, etc. 

 
Samantha_palma1

Does anyone know if I have to use Jpay to write someone in there or can I use email to write them and how long does it take for them to respond ? 

 
Samantha_palma1

Do you know if I have to use Jpay to write them or can I just send it regular through email ? And do you know by any chance how long does it take for them to respond back ?

 
VioletGrey

Racchhx - you've posted the same questions all over the forum, but you don't seem to be reading the applicable portions when someone replies to you. So I'll copy another bit I just wrote to some other new users to JPay to help you clarify the situation.

JPay isn't an exact science, it feels like it should be, and it's given the name email but that doesn't mean it's email like we know. 
Every bit of communication has to be read & approved by the prison before it reaches your pen pal. A prison, for example, with a population of 900 inmates and 27 JPay kiosks? Maybe there's a few hundred with tablets that don't need to use the kiosk, but still that's fairly stretched numbers. 
If these are first communications and long introduction emails, they're going to take longer. People here have waited over a week for a JPay to come through - so be patient!

I have two pen pals currently - both in Federal prisons in different States. One is only allowed out 90 minutes Mon/Wed/Friday to shower, phone and email because of Coronavirus restrictions. 
The other is allowed out for two 2 hour sessions a day, so 4 hours a day every day of the week. Big difference for two maximum security prisons. It's just how it is, what the people at the top are passing down. Therefore, I only very occasionally hear from one by email, and the other we usually send 3-5 emails back over the course of the day. For phone and email, everyone wants to use it, so there's lines, there's waiting and there's not always the spot guaraneteed. With JPay, it's the same, you can ask your pen pal all these things once you get a reply. But until then, it's not going to make much of a difference either way. 

Reasons why you're not getting an answer as soon as you would like: it could be the prison has a Covid outbreak, they could have a Covid lockdown, they could not have any money for JPay stamps, they could have so many replies from their ad that they aren't replying to everyone, they could be on loss of privilages and not be allowed to access JPay, they could be in medical, or in a transfer unit, or in the hole on punishment, the wifi could be down or switched off or their tablet could be broken or the kiosks could be broken. There's literally a million reasons why you're not getting a message back straight away. 
Just sit tight and be patient. It's something you have to develop when writing to inmates because it's rarely their fault that communication is slow. It's the prison mindset of punishment and unnecessary hoops to jump through. 
 

 
Racchhx

Hi I've just been reading through dunt off the comments. I'm in the UK, but have just used jpay for the first time. Was too Florida, but 1 is death row, 1 is gen pop. I sent the emails sat / Sun afternoon UK time. But am wondering how long it will take (especially with sending on the weekend, & attachment included).
And also wondering how it works when they own a jpay tablet (they both do), compared too just the kiosks. And if there's only certain times they can download read / reply too emails (especially on death row with 23 hour lockdown).
So really have no idea when they will be recieved /able too reply. Definitely not used too anything like this in UK lol

 
Racchhx

Hi I've just been reading through dunt off the comments. I'm in the UK, but have just used jpay for the first time. Was too Florida, but 1 is death row, 1 is gen pop. I sent the emails sat / Sun afternoon UK time. But am wondering how long it will take (especially with sending on the weekend, & attachment included).
And also wondering how it works when they own a jpay tablet (they both do), compared too just the kiosks. And if there's only certain times they can download read / reply too emails (especially on death row with 23 hour lockdown).
So really have no idea when they will be recieved /able too reply. Definitely not used too anything like this in UK lol

 
Aneey

Wow.. That's quite a process.I am from India and I think I need to reach him out through corrlinks hope its faster. I really appreciate your help violet thank u so much.

 
martylongo

Based on my experince, it varies.  Plus with Covid, it may slow things down.  I use a PO Box as well.  If its a pen pal in Texas, I send him letters via Jpay and he writes back with the old fashion snail mail and with him normally I may get a response within 7 to 14 days.  Hes taking some courses and Covid has slow down mail there.  If its snail mail both ways it can take about 2 weeks to get a response give ir take a few days, may take a bit longer if my pp doesnt have any stamps.  

 
VioletGrey

Iunderstandyou - JPay lets you write multiple inmates if you do wish. As it's a service you pay for like the postal mail service. 
The Write a Prisoner email only lets you write to one prisoner per month because it's not an email, it's a message forwarding service that's written by you, emailed and then printed out (by Write a prisoner) to be sent free of charge to the inmate you chose. Hence why they can't let everyone do multiple letters, because they would never make any money. 

 
iunderstandyou

Hi, why JPay just let me write one inmate?

 
VioletGrey

Hi Aneey, 

The Write A Prisoner “email” service is for intial contact only, and is meant to be a one off to make an introduction to a potential pen pal. They limit you to one a month so it's only useful for one inmate. You cannot use the WAP email for the same inmate twice, even a month apart. You can send another WAP email to a different inmate once a month has gone by since your first one. The message is sent as an electronic message to WAP, they print it off and send it via snail mail using the name and address you provided when you set up your account with WAP. If you want to write any others then you'll have to reach out yourself through one of the other ways of contact. 

These letters are sent twice a month, once on the 7th and once on the 23rd of each month.

These letters are notorious for being slower than regular mail that you send yourself and now with the Coronavirus pandemic going on, mail is even more unpredictable than ever. You could be waiting one week for a reply, to upwards of three months. Extra patience is needed now, but also patience is a really key virtue for all people who choose to write to prison pen pals to have, and work on.  

 
Aneey

Hi ..
Just wanted to know how long does it take for an inmate to receive an email and how long does it take for them to reply, if we send an email through writeaprisoner feature.
Thank you
Aneey

 
Jeanne555

Hey MissEllie, what email do you mean? Do you mean jpay or corrlinks or writeaprisoner email feature? It depends on what you mean. Also it might depend on the state your penpal is from.

 
MissEllie87

Hi everyone how soon after sending an email to someone do they receive it? And how soon do you normally hear something? Many thanks x

 
AJenner1

I wrote my first email/online message a month ago with no responce. I live in the UK so if messages are taking this long, I wonder how long physical letters would actually take. I didn't realise it's normally a week or so on average for a reply?! 

 
MrsLuark2023

Dammm that's hilrious " Lurkers " .:. Love it @silverparrot

 
Gemmak1990

Thank you. Depending on the pp facility there's a thing called gtlvisitme, set up an account and you can have video chats 

 

 
Bubbles83

Ahh ok cool! Well hopefully it works for you :) 

 
Gemmak1990

Hey, I've only just sent the number to him to add to his list so haven't received a phone call yet but they let me set up the account and took the payment for the prepaid calls so I'm hoping it works 

 
Bubbles83

Hey! Has the cellphones rocks acct worked? And has your pp managed to call you? Because iv tried to do it but it says i cant do it im uk also! I assume that 8.30 would be us time not our time :) 

 
Gemmak1990

Thank you so much for your response, I've set up a cellphone docks account so when he calls it's prepaid my end. Also I'm not sure if any of you have ever used the gtlvisitme thing but I have my first visit set up and when it states the time 8:30am for the visit I assume that's US time 

 
VioletGrey

Depends if they call you collect. If they're calling collect then you'll foot the bill. If they're not calling collect then it shouldn't affect your bill. It will cost your PP a lot of $$ to call a UK mobile though. 

 
Gemmak1990

Hey guys I have a question. When an inmate calls me from a us prison to a uk mobile will the call be charged to my phone bill. Thanks 

 
IsabellaB

Hi, does anyone know if you still have to include your address if you use JPay?? Or does it already input your address for you as I automatically saw mine at the top? I'm finding it all a little confusing! 

 
VioletGrey

Oh man, the holidays really slow everything down, I should mention too that I wrote the letter at the end of November, he didn't get until December and I got the reply in January *smh* 

Ohh that's nice to have a big influx of letters, even if they are really late :/

 
CanadianinSpain2019

I only got a letter from one PP last week that was dated Dec 12! I didn't get any mail over the holiday period, only some just before. Got two letters last week and then yesterday three letters came in one day. Since no mail on weekend, nice to have received three just before. :-) At least mail is moving along better now.

 
VioletGrey

I'm sorry to all those people I told that international mail usually comes in 5-10 days. I just got a letter today (the 16th Jan - hello from the future) that's dated the 23rd December! Holiday mail *eye roll* but so happy to hear from him and that I hadn't pissed him off haha

 
Gemmak1990

Hi toony I don't think there is a way to dm on here, my email address is gemmaknighton1990 [at] outlook.comrel="nofollow" feel free to email if you need any help 

 
Toony987

Gemma, I've been trying to find somewhere I can dm you regarding contact a PP. You seem pretty new to this so am looking for a little bit of help as I dont know if I am doing this correct or not.

 
Northernyank

@RayRay Jpay is an institutional email service (app), where people from the outside can email people incarcerated, provided their institution has it, and where your pen-pal can email you back. It operates the same as mail, as you need to purchase stamps in order to send a message, same for your pen-pal.

Here's the link for the site, but it works best (I've found) as an app on your phone versus on your computer. https://www.jpay.com/

 
RayRay1017

sorry I'm not sure why that posted twice

 
RayRay1017

I'm new to all this but I've heard a lot of people saying about jpay, what is exactly?

 
RayRay1017

I'm new to all this but I've heard a lot of people saying about jpay, what is exactly?

 
FaizanKhan

I read your article. I have many different learned about your website. I've got a lot to learn. Keep it up. There is a corresponding website in Pakistan for contacting each other. Making it easier to touch your ups. I've seen this site a few days ago. You will find out too. https://chatbook.pk