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MackAaron

I am sure this topic is somewhere on this forum, but I cant find a search feature anywhere... 

Wondering what the longest JPAY has ever taken for you guys was? I recently started writing an old friend who is in prison in Florida. He was excited I wrote him, I was excited he wrote back. We talked about continuing to write for a long time. He even mentioned in one letter that it took a few days (it was the weekend) to get my letter and he thought I wasnt going to write again. I responded to his last email Thursday morning at 9 AM. It's now Wednesday morning at 9 AM and I haven't heard back. I'm not worried if his response time is long, but I am worried about what I've read about JPAY just not delivering messages sometimes. I would hate for him to think I just quit writing him suddenly and he's just waiting around to hear from me. He does have a JPAY Tablet. Is four days a long time? I know it says normally 48 hours for him to get his mail, not including weekends so maybe I am jumping the gun being concerned? Definitely don't want to write again if he is just wrapped up in something or it's him who has decided he is not ready/willing to write back. Thoughts appreciated! 


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Blue Skies

Yaay. I'm so glad. Keep doing what you're doing and adding sunshine to someone's life with your essays :P 

 
MackAaron

Hi guys, thought I'd update. My pen pal wrote me last night and I got this morning. He said he hadn't heard from me and was wondering if I got his last letter. So I'm guessing he never got my letter or maybe he replied and I never got his letter. Either way, it was jpay just dropping the ball! Phew. Thanks again for everyone's comments!

 
Liw

Up to one month for me!! :O Most of the time it takes only minutes or one day, but sometimes it's like a message get stuck and it takes weeks to get it.

 
MackAaron

blue skies: thank you! I feel much better knowing it's not an isolated incident and have more perspectives to consider. I'm going to check out those Facebook groups too! I think I will write him again soon. I'm going to wait just a few more days and then check in. What's the worst that can happen... he doesn't write again? At least I'll know! 
 

Mjuran: thanks for your thoughts on this too! My pp and I are acquaintances from a past life (youth lol) so we are getting to know each other and asking a lot of questions. Reminiscing a lot. So I wait for his letters to see what he asks or what he answers from my questions. I can definitely see writing whenever I have something new to say or feel like it in the future and it not being such routined writing. Sad to hear JPAY has so many issues but I guess we all have to take what we can get. It's a great system so if we have to work around bugs I guess what can you do right? 

 
Blue Skies

Totally with mjuran on this. I guess as long as your show consideration that they may also have things going on inside that may keep them from replying, writing another email sounds totally fine, nice even.
Another time, my pen pal dropped his tablet from the upper bunk and broke it and that's why he could not write for a few days. I got to know when he wrote me saying he isn't ignoring me from the kiosk. Kiosks are pesky to use and often have long queues and limited writing time. Hence, while he waited for his new tablet, he'd write shorter emails. So, another possibility could be that your pen pal may not have been able to access a kiosk for some reason to write to you in case something's wrong with his tablet.

 
mjuran

With all the confusion in delivery with JPay, I really don't wait for a letter before sending one myself.  I just send a letter when it suits me, OR when I hear from my pen pal, whichever is most frequent.  Usually it's a back and forth one to one exchange of letters, but not always, my pen pals do the same and just write me when it suits them.  I think we all end up doing this because, if we waited on each other's letters to reply every time, it would be a lot longer in between letters, and sometimes we'd hit a glitch like this (with a disappeared or delayed letter holding everything up.)  I don't think it comes across as obnoxious to send "extra" letters now and then, especially if you're waiting on a reply.  Of course you wouldn't want to be writing every day to someone who writes you once a week, you have to tailor your speed to each other within reason, but I've never felt as though it were against the rules to write again before getting a reply or that this bothered anyone.  

 
Blue Skies

Yeah, I experience the exact same delivery pattern as you. I don't think it would come across as obnoxious if you word the checkin-in email correctly. My pen pal also has a tab but I think his is what he bought with his own money. I've heard some facilities provide or will soon start providing everyone with these free Jpay tablets. So I'm not sure if the tablets can be taken away and if all this differs from facility to facility. Sometimes, the jpay system is just down and that can cause a long duration of silence from their end. So, my pen pal tells me that they can sync their tablets to this system every 5 mins or so and maybe the system at his facility is down. I hope it's nothing to do with solitary confinement.

And yeah sad reality is most people just ghost these guys and that's why they get so used to it that their natural course of thinking becomes like we might be gone or ignoring them. My pen pal also complains about folks writing barely two lines each time and also starting to write without check the crime and then ghosting once they do.

Btw, there are facebook groups for Jpay issues and so on, you may want to join those to stay updated :)

Hoping you hear from your friend soon :D

 
MackAaron

That is my fear because we talked so much about how we would keep writing and he acknowledged that he has had friends quit writing and how hard it was when reading and writing letters becomes part of his routine. We were corresponding everyday. I'd write a letter and a day later id get his response. The longest it took was just over the weekend, so a letter sent Friday would get to him Monday. Once it was Tuesday. But that's still three days. It's been almost a week, but that is counting the weekend so I'm trying to just chill. I also took into consideration something may have happened. Not sure but can they lose privelages to their  jpay tablet? Or is that personal property that can't be taken away? I checked out his inmate listing online and it says updated 7/25 and lists him as "close custody" which in Florida is the step under maximum I think? So guarded when not in his dorm? Ugh I just don't want him to think I'm blowing him off but also don't want him to think I'm obnoxious lol. 

 
Blue Skies

I'm exactly like you and write essays for letters :P One of mine also went missing and I waited to hear back from him for a week before checking in. Poor guy thought he upset me and I quit writing. There was nothing risky in that email -_-. I have gotten some of his emails 3 days later.

 
MackAaron

Thank you both! I will give it a bit longer and then check in. I have no reason to believe he would stop writing. I do write super lengthy letters and this one was especially long so maybe it's holding it up somewhere. I will probably give it another 7 days and check in with him next Wednesday if I still don't hear from him. 

 
Selosa

One of my jpay messages to a penpal disappeared before. He thought I stopped writing and I thought he stopped writing, but he sent an email to check and we found out that his email had disappeared. So I suggest writing to check in a few days. 

 
mjuran

The longest it's taken me to receive a Jpay message is ten days, the longest it't taken a pen pal to get a JPay of mine is about fourteen days.  But those are exceptionally long wait times, normal is 2-3 days M-F .  It does vary by prison, length of letter and whether or not there are attachments (those might take longer) and whether or not it's a weekday or a weekend/holiday.  I haven't had a letter be rejected very often, and never had a letter disappear without a trace or a notification.  

Sometimes Jpay kiosks are down, or the wifi in the prison is down (for those with tablets).  This happens on a regular basis at one pen pal's Florida facility, and it means he has to wait, sometimes several days, to send me a message.  And of course, your friend might simply be taking longer than usual to write you back. 

Six days is longish, but still not terribly long a time.  I always feel that it's okay to send another message, if in doubt that something was received or sent.  There are many things that disrupt mail and make turnaround times slow, but if it's been a long time and you're feeling anxious, I'd recommend sending another note to make sure everything is okay.