What filters do you use when searching?

When I came here, I just looked at the needs mail list and guys who were willing to write overseas.

Then I read a few ads, did a bit of research on names and cases on the net and then I wrote to 3 guys, to of which I'm still writing to.

The other ones were newly listed when I found them.

I did not consciously go for a certain age range, there are wise young ones and immature old ones.

Race was no issue, either. I got all except Asian and Native American, but not because I planned it.

What I excluded is LWOP and DP, that's just sth. I don't feel prepared or able to deal with. At least not at the moment.

As for the crimes: Most of the guys I write to were part of street gangs with crimes related to that.

What I discovered to be a nice feature, too, is the "religion" field. I prefer non-denominational or spiritual, that is, for me, the easiest way to get along with. But that's the same for me with ppl on the outside, so, no surprise there.

Another thing  I tend to avoid is anything that puts a certain gender, race, religion or skin color over any other one(s).

That's it, I guess. The rest is/was how and what someone is writing.

And the last pp I got was because of that impish grin, which, in combi with the ad and a hilarious sense of humor, "had" me the moment I saw it. I did not want another pp originally, but that one I just had to write to. And with every letter I get and with every letter I send I'm glad that I followed my "illogical" gut feeling. And no, we're neither romantic, nor flirtatious, but that one is just something that had to be, whatever it is. Inexplicable.     

Race really isn’t an issue for me either . Sometimes I like to filter for a race other than my own to give me a different perspective on life .

I filter by gender and only write women.  In addition, I filter by state so I don't write multiple women in the same state.

I'm new to this I got curious to write to an inmate Because of the TV love after lockup up. So here I am , I have written to 3 men , and I choose to pick guys who are lifers because I think they need it the most and I don't plan on to meeting up with anyone who has been in prison , I only like white men and I prefer to go with christain religion and only in California since I am in California

 I think Zarchery has a good point in not writing to more than one person per state. During a few months of writing, I've seen three transfers of pp- and another one taking place soon. The thought of two pp of mine ending up in the same prison and making a fuss isn't really a nice one.

Some ppl tend to get pretty "possesive" about pps, as writing and the conversations are pretty precious to them.

@ Mixed Latina: I would not recommend to anyone to write to three ppl on the same state. Especially since they're all lifers - hopefully they're at least in different prisons. Otherwise you might stir up "trouble in the kitchen".

I filter by gender, I prefer to write to men. I filter by age, I prefer to communicate with men around my age. I feel I'm able to communicate and relate to them better. I also filter by race. At first I didn't think to do that, but I saw it mentioned a few times that race is a big issue in some prisons, not just among the inmates, but also among their 'real world' friendships. While I'm sure its not a big deal for many, I didn't want to take that risk.

Those are my only filters, but I do prefer to write to men who still have a significant amount of time on their sentence. Personally, I feel they are more invested in having an actual penpal than those whose release is near. 

Lamorena,

Are you saying that inmates are often more willing to correspond with someone that this their same race?

No not exactly. Most of my penpals correspond with women of different races, and they really enjoy it. They really like learning about different cultures/languages.

But, I can tell you that a few have told me how intense segregation is in their units and they are more reluctant to write to some races over others. It's been a long time since I read that post/article and asked a few of my penpals about it, so I can't quote their responses and mindset on this. I can tell you that a few of my penpals have hinted that they would be very upset if I corresponded with a specific race. I don't want to put words in their mouth, but I think they would see it as a form of betrayal  because they would worry that I am sharing some of their information to the other side. 

From what they have told me, this is prison politics, and they are heavily influenced by race segregation. It's like they're stuck in the past, but this is their way of life. 

I have a friend that is a former guard in a federal facility.  He told me that the facility was very segregated.  The only exception was the child predators - they were shunned by everyone .

I don't know this for sure, but I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of prisoners serving time for gang related crimes. Most gangs are not racially diverse, so they grow up with hate for their enemy gang/race. When they get locked up they continue this hate and segregation. Inmates that were not involved in gangs might side with their race once they enter the facility because it is familiar to them. Also, I think administration tries to adhere to race segregation in assigning cellies in order to avoid potential racial conflicts/violence in the cells. 

And while there often are prejudices against guys of another race, none of my pps ever made it a subject addressing that we (them and me) are of different races. I actually have just one "Caucasian" guy, but neither he nor one of the others ever addressed it. It's not an issue.

If anything, then I get interested questions about coming from Germany. Cultural questions, yes, but none of descent or race. More of meals (cooking recipes) or about healthcare, music, clothes, federal system and such. But never about ethnicity or race. They just don't ask, so I guess, they don't bother.

My filters are men, willing to correspond overseas. 

Age, race are no issue for me. 

I don't write to someone who is very religious or someone who is incarcerated for rape. I read carefully the ads, I like when people took time to write a long introduction

My filters are men, willing to correspond overseas, and age. Race and religion isn’t an issue. I also don’t write to more than one person in each state.

I always check the crime as there are some that I can’t overlook. 

JavaDude - I have a PP in Fed and he has pretty much said the same. 

I figured the easiest conversation was going to be with someone that had a totally different life, but still, have core beliefs that would not clash (why I kept clear of people with strong religious and political views that made it known in their profile). Cause people always feel more comfortable talking about themselves and if they are different than at least its something new for me too.

So when I looked I searched for:

• Males 
• not white 
• lifer
• accepted overseas penpals
• happy to do JPay/Corrlink
• did not talk about religion or politics in any way
• had no crimes that hurt children.

Then when I had that sub list I went through and shorted listed the profiles that stood out to me, so anyone that mentioned or were pictured with dogs, had any relatable likes or core beliefs that meshed well with mine.

Though despite my efforts to fine someone very different from me, I have almost just found my twin that is a different sex, race and location. Though I'm ok with that, I'm now best mates with my pp. 

- Male

-Age 40+

-Heterosexual

-Five or more years left on their sentence

-No sex offenders

-Not deeply religious

-Their profiles mention something that I share an interest in.

My filters when searching on WAP are male, willing to write overseas (Canada isn't necessarily considered that, but there is an added expense writing here compared to within the U.S.), and that's about it. Age, race, looks, sexual orientation is not important, as I only write for friendship.

I make sure locations don't get too close to my existing PP's, I never write more than one at the same time in the same facility, I generally stick to one a state as well. I do not write to any offenders convicted of sexual crimes of any kind or who have harmed children in any way, I can't deal with either of those, apart from that I'll write to just about anyone else as far as crimes are concerned. 

I have experience writing to offenders of all durations of sentence, short termers to lifers to death row and everything in between. I prefer to write to those with longer sentences, I guess because I feel like they might need the company more as they may be more likely to be subject to friends and family fading away over time, particularly with lifers. My penpal on a 15 year sentence, about 5 years in, is already talking about noticing some of his people fading away, the whole out of sight out of mind thing. There is kind of a filter for me here, but nothing too absolute though, I'm relatively open to anything.