Being incarcerated in prison can be very lonely. Isolated from friends and family, inmates often have little contact with the outside world. Imagine how important it can be to a prisoner to receive a letter from someone who can talk about day-to-day events in the outside world.
Studies show that prisoners who have frequent contact with society outside of prison walls are less likely to recommit a crime, helping to reduce recidivism rates.
Oftentimes, it is important for a prisoner to have a pen pal to be able to have someone to who they can express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions — it can be a great way for prisoners to be able to share their personal stories of life in prison.
“It is undeniable that since approximately ninety percent of all inmates will one day be released, allowing prisoners to communicate with the outside world has important consequences”
Write A Prisoner is an organization that helps prisoners connect with pen pals outside of prison walls. Write A Prisoner posts prisoners’ profiles on the website, including interests, goals, criminal records, release dates, etc. From this profile, you can pick which inmate you would like to correspond with. People from all walks of life choose to write to incarcerated prisoners, and these correspondences often create lifelong friendships.
Write A Prisoner works by the inmate paying a nominal membership fee — these fees help fund other great prison programs, including Books Behind Bars, Back to Work programs, housing programs, self-help programs, and scholarship programs as well. Other perks include a Prison Resource Directory, Victim Resource Directory, and a Welcome Home Kit (which includes essentials such as toiletry items.)
Other great benefits of the Write A Prisoner program for prisoners is it helps them keep a positive attitude, helps them focus on the future, helps them find jobs and housing, helps them improve their education, and most importantly, helps them become contributing members of society.
Write A Prisoner strongly believes that many prisoners will go through a great transformation and will and can be rehabilitated for the crimes that they have committed. The Write A Prisoner program provides resources to help facilitate positive change for prisoners that will someday be released – helping make them contributing members of society.
Please feel free to read more about the Write A Prisoner program. And if you would like to become involved or simply write to a lonely prisoner, please read more here.
Published Jun 3, 2012 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Jul 15, 2023 at 1:54 pm
