ASK BOB: Free Pen Pal Services for Inmates

Louie D. from El Reno FCI wrote in and asked: “Bob, Does anyone out there provide FREE pen-pal services for inmates?”

Great question Louie! I checked over 40 websites and the truly “free” prisoner pen-pal programs were few and far between. I only found 3.5 free pen-pal services, but maybe someone knows something I don’t know! 

I like free – especially back when I was making $0.17/hour slaving for the B.O.P.!  That’s not to say that some of the sites that charge a fee are bad – there were several good ones out there, ranging from a one-time $5 sign-up fee to a $50/year ad charge. Remember, every website has expenses, so my question with the “pay” sites is whether their charge is fair for what they offer. But you didn’t ask for a review of the “pay” pen-pal services for prisoners, so here’s what I found on those free ones.  

You should know that for my research, I viewed their websites. Then if they appeared to be “free” I searched for internet reviews and whether anyone made a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against them. I even contacted a couple of them and attempted to post an ad to confirm they were in fact, free. The ones listed below seem legitimate based on these criteria. 

Here are four pen pal services:

I encourage you to verify for yourself because we ARE NOT guaranteeing or endorsing any site or service. We are simply listing them here, in no particular order, for your benefit. 

LOSTVAULT was a free site but only under two conditions: Someone registers online for you (no mail requests) at http://www.lostvault.com/penpals/register.asp ; OR snail mail requests are allowed only for death row inmates by mailing:  LostVault, PO Box 261, Washburn, TN 37888. It seemed to be a decent “pay” pen-pal service. 

CHRISTIAN PEN PALS offers free service whether you write them or someone registers online for you. Their information is: Christian Pen Pals, PO Box 11296, Hickory, NC 28603 or http://www.cppministry.com/register-prisoner/ 

WRITE-AN-INMATE.COM seemed to be a pretty good free prisoner pen-pal site. Unfortunately, they only have online inmate ad submission, and you have to create a free account first to submit the profile. It did seem to have a lot of traffic on the site. Someone outside can post an ad for you at 

http://write-an-inmate.com/submit-an-inmate 

PRISONER LIFE was free only if you are a death row inmate. They verify that before letting you sign up. Otherwise they seem to be a decent paid pen-pal site. If you are a death row inmate, mail them at: PrisonerLife.com, P.O. Box 1664, Voorhees, New Jersey 08043. This was the “half” to my “3.5 free pen-pal services” as this was free only for death row inmates. 

Good luck, Louie and thank you for writing in!

Bob