Greetings from NSW, Australia!
Freedom has always been the most important thing in the world to me by far, so maybe that's why I've always had a soft spot for inmates? but I never did anything to reach out until a new friend here in Aus (who I met randomly at a theme park about a month b4 he was locked up) was sentenced to 12 months for money laundering. Writing to him and visiting him regularly started to give me insights into prison life that I never thought I would have. I NEVER expected to have a friend in prison! LOL! but the thing that I couldn't stop thinking about is how many inmates are just completely abandoned by their family and so-called "friends" when they are sent away...and more ppl disappear from their life the longer their sentence is. It made me so sad, so I got online, found this site and started writing away! I now correspond regularly with 6 inmates, 3 from Kentucky (all bisexual, Yeah, I know! LOL!) and 1 in Michigan as well as 2 guys my friend met in prison here in Australia who write to me because my friend told them I'd write back. I even went to visit a guy my friend met inside because he hadn't had a visit for a long time. As a bit of a hermit in real life, I'm finding the conversations I have with these guys is lifting my own spirits at least as much as it is theirs. It's amazing to me just how normal these peeps are. Intelligent. Creative. Poetic. Positive. Articulate. Interesting. Human. The sterotypes of guys in prison all being "thugs and junkies" definitely don't apply to my "boys"! This struck me on my first visit to my friend in a minimum security CC in NSW. How normal the inmates sitting at the tables around me seemed, how positive they were (smiles and laughter) and how well-dressed and "respectable-looking" their visitors were. I've really learned a lot and am super grateful for the experience so far! My friend says he's growing a lot on the inside, and I am too, by being involved in his journey from the outside :-)
I've also had my car searched and been questioned by the screws (because of my compassionate visit to my friend's friend) and am now the known associate of a money launderer. Oh, well! Small price to pay if you ask me!
I'm super grateful to the founders of WAP.com for giving me this opportunity to meet these amazing men and am really looking forward to seeing just where these frienships go!