Hello! 
I'm new here and interested in the whole penpaling thing.
How did you guys stumble upon the pen paling and get started?
Thanks!
Greetings from the Netherlands.
I'm new here and interested in the whole penpaling thing.
How did you guys stumble upon the pen paling and get started?
Thanks!
Greetings from the Netherlands.
Last post
Hello and Welcome! My story is quite simple. I guess I was pretty bored 8 years ago so I thought, why not write a prisoner?;D I always loved getting letters after all. The very first inmate I ever wrote to... I'm still writing him to this day! I myself find it hard to believe it's been so long, but he's one of the best friends I've ever had:)
In early November of last year, I was listening to Theft By Finding, David Sedaris' collection of diaries from 1977 through 2002. Somewhere in there, he mentions a pen pal he had. I thought this seemed interesting and it made me think I'd like to have a pen pal. It made me think of how people don't really write letters any more. You know, good old snail mail. I realized that normal people don't do it because there are so many better ways to communicate. There is E-Mail, SMS text messaging, social media, and more. These things have greatly increased the quantity of communication but the quality has sharply decreased. I did realize that prisoners were a class of people who might still enjoy sending and receiving snail mail.
Additionally, I have been intrigued by the prison system for a long time. I watch a lot of those prison documentary shows. But for me it was more than just gawking at prisoners like they were zoo animals, which is I why I believe some people watch these shows. I have also felt sad about the way prisoners are treated in my country (the United States). It's not that the prisons themselves suck. I mean, prison is supposed to suck... to an extent. My concern is mostly the way the way that most of my countrymen treat prisoners. No matter the crime, prisoners in the United States are usually looked upon as garbage, and it is always politically popular to treat them more harshly. I wanted to extend a hand of friendship, and do what I could for them. I guess I hope to make their time in prison a litle better, and to make them feel better by the time they get out so that they can start a new life and stay out.
I just did a few Google searches on how to find inmate penpals and found this site. Started writing sometime around Thanksgiving 2017.