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

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

 
Desertlil

I am new to prison pen palling and wondering if someone can tell me what info is given to the prisoner when you write via Corrlinks or Jpay. I went to sign up for Corrlinks and when it asked me for address it made me uncomfortable. I don't care about the company or the prison knowing my details but I prefer to keep my home address and full name private. How much control do you have over your information with these services?


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freebird1

Jpay works on a system of purchasing 'electronic stamps'. These are used for each letter and picture/photo you send. If the facility has the option for your penpal to respond with emails they have to do the same, altho' you can send an extra stamp specifically to allow them to reply to you. Those who can't use jpay to reply have to rely on snail mail, so important you include an address otherwise they can't respond. Stamps are not expensive (unless you end up sending several emails a day!) 

 
maryanneapp

Do you have to pay for Jpay? I want to contact prisoners but i don't want to send or receive mail anything solely online?

 
maryanneapp

Do you have to pay for Jpay? I want to contact prisoners but i don't want to send or receive mail anything solely online?

 
Kirsten

Hi Rebbecca,

I think the answer to that question can be found in CLW post in this thread:

[QUOTE]Jpay and Corrlinks will not show your home address, but the inmate will see your name.[/QUOTE]

Good luck and happy writing!

Kirsten

 
rebeccahitch

I don't mind someone knowing my name but would rather not disclose my home address from the get go, so can anyone confirm, using Corrlinks, will the recipient have access to my home address? TIA

 
Taurus_ISTJ

But also, that only applies to the inmates who don't have access to a kiosk or JP5 tablet and have to have JPay messages printed out to them. If this isn't your PP, you don't need to share your address at all.

 
Taurus_ISTJ

Mari13vg, it displays the first and last name you created your account under (meaning when you message an inmate, your name shows), but that is all. Though—admittedly I'm not as familiar with Corrlinks as I am with JPay, but I know JPay only shows your first and last name. JPay has an answer for this on their About page. It reads, "Will my information be accessible to the inmate? No, your information is kept private. However, some of our products – like eMessaging, Video Visitation and Videograms – are delivered to the inmate with your name included."

Searching through the profiles, you will see many bios which have a line that reads, "If you contact me through JPay, be sure to put your return address in the body of your message or I won't be able to respond." In fact, direct quote from a profile: "If you do use JPay to contact me, please be sure that your mailing address is in the body of the message or I won’t be able to write you back!” So they cannot see that.

 
freebird1

Deception from the get go?  Desertlil...your question has been answered several times in different ways. If you have so much doubt and insincerity, pass on by.

 
Mari13vg

Desertlil did you ever find the answer to your question? I too am wondering this. Like if it shows the inmate all your personal info you use to sign up that's "required". I would love to know the answer as well. 

 
sunray's wench

Only admin/mods can pin threads.

 
sunray's wench

I'm not going to get bogged down in semantics, as clearly we see things differently. There have been several "what do new folks need to know" threads, which quickly drop off the front of the forum due to the "how can I get phone calls from my penpal" and "how do I send money to my inmate" threads. Maybe the best advice to new people is to try the forum search?

 
sunray's wench

I've said it before, and I'll say it as many times as is necessary: we ALL make judgements about other people all the time. It's how we as humans survive. We don't "know" everything about anybody (some people appear to know very little about themselves!), but we make a judgement based on what we see and or hear from the other person. There is nothing wrong with that.

Kirsten, you are not immune from making judgements. It's just another word for 'decision' or 'assumption', and you must have made one when you picked one penpal over another, and when you decided to respond to this thread.

Sometimes, people who have years of experience with something really do know what they're talking about. I accept that we might not always put it as elloquently as if we were writing a dissertation on the subject, but that's life.

 
Moonlampje

I did not say she was going to drop them, I was merely pointing out the fact that we had many members over the years with similar posts, and that those stories get real old real fast. It just came up in conversation

At the moment that someone is inquiring about the privacy of corrlinks, stating that she does not want to reveal her own name, thus possibly trying to find a way around it, is toying with inmates yes. Even thinking about it is already being dishonest. Just like us people on the outside, people in prison don't want to be lied to. Even with something as simple as a fake name.

Btw, we do have a right to judge here, especially since we've all seen that kind of behaviour over the years. It even affects my own boyfriend, because he is always on the lookout for new friends only to be let down by people like the OP. And it hurts to see that people in prison are being treated like vermin, especially by those who have no business in doing that. They already get tortured enough in prison.

 
Moonlampje

oops, this post that I'm typing now should be in a different thread, lol

 
Moonlampje

Yeah, but not in that kind of way.
I agree with the gist of what you all said, but what the heck do you wish to accomplish by using that kind of way to say it?
To make clear that writing to an inmate is a longterm thing and to make clear that contacts/friendships/palships (does this word exist at all? Sorry, for not being a native speaker again...) should be started as honest as possible is one thing.
But do you really think that your way of putting it is really helping anyone to think over their fears and to ponder them and to eventually take the leap of faith it always takes?
I'm sorry, but if you are requiring respect for the needs and rights of inmates, I guess, you should be giving the same kind of respect to others, too.
and as this is all about written communication, respect here means the writing style.

I'm sorry I'm not sugarcoating anything for the special snowflakes in here, I just stated it like it is and I wasn't rude. Maybe some people on here need to grow a thicker skin, because if my response ticked them off; how do they survive in the real world with real grown ups? I've been writing to people in prison for over 7 years now. Not as long as many others on here, but I'm most certainly not a newbie anymore. That means that we have seen a lot of people wanting to use a different name, or a lot of people wanting to drop penpals. Or a lot of people that want to write a prisoner but just aren't willing to put any effort in it. I'm sorry, but I will rather advise those people to look for a penpal in the free world, than one in prison. They are not cut out for something like that. The guys and girls in prison already get to deal with too many whackjobs, they don't need any sh*t from the outside. Just as we don't accept any sh*t from those on the inside.

 
Metaxu

But for informational purposes, Corrlinks will show the inmate whatever name you registered under the email account -- meaning, whatever first and last name you put in when you created the account -- which could be as fake as ReddiWhip is to whipped cream.

 
Metaxu

Seriously, the prisoners are not out to get you. Most are trying to do their time peacefully to earn good time/parole, and afterwards, the very last thing they're going to want is trouble, for fear of losing their hard-earned freedom. And while they're still inside, why would they risk doing anything to jeopardize their goal? For these reasons alone prisoners are the least likely to make trouble in your life.

The crime bosses and bigshots who have some reach are not the ones putting up ads on this, or any other site. They don't have time or interest with the likes of little people like us.

I also agree that it is a bad way to start a friendship with evasiveness and cloak-and-dagger maneuvers. How would you feel if you were on the receiving end of that? Prisoners are constantly let down and lied to. No wonder some of them end up playing the game.

 
MichaelWStabosz

Like they all said, it's not a good idea to start out a new relationship with a lie, or even just hiding something as basic as your name. I can understand why you might be nervous, but you shouldn't be.

I can see two potential hazards in a convict knowing where you live that may be on your mind. I'll tell you why these are not a thing to be worried about.

Firstly, the inmate could send someone on the outside to hurt you or rob you, that's not going to happen. There is considerable risk for both the inmate and the person on the outside. The people who do these kinds of things are not particularly altruistic and aren't going to come after you unless there's a good reward. I can't fathom a reason why the inmate would somehow hate you enough to try and hurt you physically. And I can't see how they would figure out that you had a lot of valuable stuff worth stealing unless you took the time to brag about it. So don't say something like "Yeah I just got this $20,000 solid gold and diamond encrusted necklace! It's so awesome and I keep it in a safe. I set the combination to 8675309 because I'm a big fan of Tommy Tutone."

Secondly, a lot of them are in there for property crimes or drug crimes, not violent ones. If you really want to be careful, this site lists every inmate's crime and you can avoid any serving time for a violent crime.

The secondary concern is that the inmate, upon release, could come to your home himself and hurt you. This... is not likely. You can make it less likely by choosing an inmate far removed from you geologically. I think you're in Oregon, right? Pick something on the East coast. The United States is a big country. A paroled convict will not be allowed to leave the state without a travel permit, so that's one hurdle. Besides that, he probably won't have the resources to travel that far just to harass you.

The worst thing an inmate is likely to do is try and scam you out of money, or try to get you to do something illegal. But you can be on guard for that and drop an inmate who tries that nonsense.

And really, what is an inmate going to do with just your name? One of my pen pals asked me if I could find and print out some pictures from her Facebook profile. I said I would, but when I tried to find this profile, I had a really tough time because there were like 50 profiles with her same name.

If you're coming from this position of fear, doing the pen pal thing may not be for you.

 
sunray's wench

Preach it sistahs!

 
Moonlampje

Oops, that needed to be Occupation, lol :D

 
Moonlampje

EXACTLY!!! I had a penpal who was in a relationship with a girl and she wouldn't tell him her real name, I don't think he ever knew what it was and he would confide in me about her and I basically said, if she had any trust for you, she wouldn't withhold something so basic! It later blew up in his face and he realized that everything I told him was right! If you can't even give a person your real name, what else are you going to hide??? I think if people can't even do that then they shouldn't write in the first place, because as you said it's a lie from day one and people who lie about little things are probably going to lie about bigger ones too!

High 5! People just do not understand the consequences of their actions. Same thing with wanting to start writing a prisoner and then dump them as soon as life gets in the way or they just don't feel like writing anymore after 2 or 3 letters. That is not how it works, people in prison are not toys you can pick up when you're bored and throw away the minute you find a better accupation. It sickens me to my stomach.

 
ShadeyBiz89

EXACTLY!!! I had a penpal who was in a relationship with a girl and she wouldn't tell him her real name, I don't think he ever knew what it was and he would confide in me about her and I basically said, if she had any trust for you, she wouldn't withhold something so basic! It later blew up in his face and he realized that everything I told him was right! If you can't even give a person your real name, what else are you going to hide??? I think if people can't even do that then they shouldn't write in the first place, because as you said it's a lie from day one and people who lie about little things are probably going to lie about bigger ones too!

Not saying anyone here would do any of that it's just my opinion in general.

 
ShadeyBiz89

I do seriously not understand why someone would not disclose their name to a new potential friend, especially when you want to write to prisoners. Why write at all when you are going to lie from the get go? Every friendship should be based on trust and honesty. If you can not and will not live up to that, then writing to prisoners is something you should stay far away from. Because have you ever considered the fact that those people are in an environment where they can already trust nobody, only to find out later on that someone they might consider a close friend is lying to them?
Sheesh!

EXACTLY!!! I had a penpal who was in a relationship with a girl and she wouldn't tell him her real name, I don't think he ever knew what it was and he would confide in me about her and I basically said, if she had any trust for you, she wouldn't withhold something so basic! It later blew up in his face and he realized that everything I told him was right! If you can't even give a person your real name, what else are you going to hide??? I think if people can't even do that then they shouldn't write in the first place, because as you said it's a lie from day one and people who lie about little things are probably going to lie about bigger ones too!

 
Moonlampje

I do seriously not understand why someone would not disclose their name to a new potential friend, especially when you want to write to prisoners. Why write at all when you are going to lie from the get go? Every friendship should be based on trust and honesty. If you can not and will not live up to that, then writing to prisoners is something you should stay far away from. Because have you ever considered the fact that those people are in an environment where they can already trust nobody, only to find out later on that someone they might consider a close friend is lying to them?
Sheesh!

 
CLW

Jpay and Corrlinks will not show your home address, but the inmate will see your name. I can understand you're uncomfortable with the thought of an inmate receiving your personal details but there's no need to be overly concerned. Generally they are great pen pals who are happy to have someone to talk to.

 
MichaelWStabosz

I never really thought about it actually. I used Corrlinks to send a few E-Mails but stopped after a while. As for Jpay I have only used it to send money.

 
Desertlil

Anyone? I asked corrlinks directly and I don't think they understand my question. Is your full name given to the inmate when you email via corrlinks or jpay?