Skip to main content

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

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

 
Ruben Noordhoek

Hello! 

 

I am from the netherlands and i would love to write a prisoner. But i am in the netherlands. I am not sure on the costs for sending a letter from me to the USA, but it probably issent that much. But i am wondering howmuch it is for the person i write in prison? Will they even answer if i am far far away? 

 

I hope someone can give me an answer. 

 

Thanks

 

Ruben

 
Carmen163

Hi Ruben,

I am also from the Netherlands and I have a PP in California. I'll continue in Dutch

Hij betaalt $1,20 per brief en ik €1,50. Hij zet er altijd 'zeepost' op, maar volgens mij bestaat dat niet meer. Het varieert enorm hoelang de post erover doet, van 6 tot 16 dagen. Je kunt dus via uitgebreid zoeken bij de profielen aangeven dat je iemand zoekt die buiten de USA wil corresponderen. Verder is er een speciaal systeem voor gevangen, het heet Jpay en je kunt via dat ook e-mailen of geld storten voor postzegels. Ik hoop dat je een leuke PP vindt en als je nog meer vragen hebt, dan beantwoord ik ze graag.

 
Kirsten

Hey Ruben,

if you choose someone willing to write outside of the US, they often will - and do - reply. There are quite a few ppl from outside of the US writing in (myself included) and it works.

 

 
Oasis_Hex

Hey Ruben!

Im also from outside the USA, and in my country the post service is terrible, so I decided to use an app called Jpay, which allows you to send electronic messages to some inmates. Its not only way too faster, its also very cheap: I bought 35 stamps for just 7 dollas, and the other package was 60 for 10 dlls. Its quite cheap and it gives you the option to prepaid the reply, so the other person doesnt have to pay.

The only downfall I saw is that you buy stamps per facilty, which means that if you buy stamps to write to, lets say, Idaho, you cannot use them to write to Illinois; you gotta buy new stamps. And I think the price of them is different from one to another.

Also, you gotta keep in mind that in Texas and Colorado prisoners can get the Jpay, but can only answer via snail mail, so I avoided those states. 

To find if your inmate can use it, in the profile search for "institutional email" and see if it says "Jpay". Theres other options, like corrlinks and Jmail, but I have not used them so I cannot speak about them. But if you have any question about Jpay feel free to ask! :)

 
ST4s

Hey Ruben, welcome!

Your best bet would be to search for someone who is willing to write internationally. Every profile has a yes or no answer to that. The main reason for a “no” is financial. Prison commissaries, where inmates can buy postage stamps, generally only offer domestic First Class stamps, so, someone would have to use two or three of those, depending on the country, to get an international letter out the door – or even more than that if the letter weighs more than so many ounces. While one or two extra stamps may not sound like a lot to you or me, you must keep in mind that many in prison do not have the resources for all those extra stamps to keep international correspondence going.

That said, the international mail situation in the U.S. (where I live) is horrible these days due to the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, international mail hitches a ride on incoming/outgoing commercial flights, but since there are so few of those lately, it’s a logjam. Be prepared for some serious wait times back and forth. Some international folks on here have reported wait times measured in months! Seriously!

There’s a workaround service called Jmail.cc that can significantly speed things up and bypass the whole extra stamps thing by providing you with a U.S.-based address for someone to write to. From your side, everything happens via email. I’ve never used it, but some folks on here swear by it. Good luck!