WRITING FLORIDA & MISSOURI STATE INMATES

If you choose to write, or are already writing one, an inmate housed in a Florida DOC facility or
one in Missouri, it would be wise not to mention in your correspondence you made the
connection via a pen pal site.  The DOC there can be harsh on inmates for having pen pal
listings.
This page is a general guide for when you finally decide you want to open a line of
communication with an inmate.

Inmates, after all, have been adjudicated by the state as criminals. The inmates you
see on this site will be behind bars for the worst violent crimes to those crimes which
involve no violence.  Always be care just how much of your life you are willing to
share with an inmate.
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After you have made your decision to write a particular inmate, we suggest you write
a one-page letter stating where you viewed his listing [except in the case of Florida
and Missouri], that you found what the inmate had to say was interesting to you,
some personal information like sexual preference, age, physical attributes, your state
of residency, hobbies and interests. We do not suggest you mention that you are
seeking a loving or sexual relationship. We feel that kind of statement is for way down
the line when you feel comfortable with the inmate. Making that statement early on
may encourage an unscrupulous inmate to play to those feelings in his writings to
you.

What about my mailing address and contact information? We always suggest using a
U.S. Post Office box or a postal box with one of the private companies. DO NOT
PROVIDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION: Your physical address, home
or work telephone number, job location or employer, your financial situation [i.e.,
income, stocks, bank accounts, etc], names of relatives, account numbers and other
such personal and vital information. Do not identify your job description in such high
profile fields as medical, legal, government, military, accounting, broker, etc. The
reason being that it would probably not be too difficult for an inmate, or his buddy on
the outside, to retrieve personal information about you using just your name and a
job description, lets say, like attorney, doctor or accountant.

Should I send the inmate a photograph of myself? Here again, you have to weigh
your individual circumstances to answer that question. Let's say you are in Podunk,
KY. You are an accountant and the town has a population of, oh say, 20,000. The
inmate you are writing is in the Kentucky big house. Armed with that information, your
job type and photo, it would not be too difficult for an accomplice of the inmate to
figure out who you are and put the squeeze on you. Get the idea? Now in New York
City, Chicago, Los Angeles and similar big cities it would be a bit more difficult
because of large firms employing specialties; but not too difficult. Large metro areas
have associations and locators for such specialties as doctors, dentists, lawyers,
accountants, druggists and the like. And of course there is always the big yellow
book of the telephone company.

Any suggestions on sending an inmate money? This is a tough one to answer. Some
states have jobs done by inmates for which they receive a small stipend which is
credited to their inmate account to purchase items at the prison canteen. These
coveted jobs are not open to all inmates. Other states do require inmates to work in
the "prison industries," but the state does not pay them any stipend. Each state and
institution is different on how they handle these matters. Our suggestion is that you
resist any request to send an inmate money until you feel secure that the inmate is
indeed sincere and forthright. Most institutions will not allow inmates to receive
packages or unused stamps. Please check with the institution before you waste your
time, money and effort.

Can I check on the inmate's background? You can go to this page for a list of links to
the various state departments of corrections and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The state information will range from nothing available to detailed information. The
federal Bureau of Prison's information about an individual inmate is limited in scope.
Of course, none of that information will tell you the person's sexual preference.



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