Once you've decided you want to write a letter, you can click on Profiles on the Menu Bar, scroll down to inmate profiles and begin your search. If you have a specific demographic, scroll down to Advance Search, and choose exactly what you’re looking for. Inside a profile, you'll find additional photos, a bio, vitals, contact info, release date and conviction. Inside contact info you'll find the specific email service you can use to communicate with your prison pen-pal. If you want to find a direct link to the specific vendor's website, go to the Prison Email Service Guide page under Resources in the menu bar.

It is recommended to do some research on the person you would like to write before you actually write them. Not everyone would like to write a person who is convicted of certain crimes. You can use the inmate locator of the state your pen pal is in. If your pen pal is in Virginia, open Google, and type in Inmate Locator Virginia. Most inmate locators will show you why somebody is incarcerated. This doesn't apply to federal prisoners. If the Inmate Locator doesn't work, you can also Google the name and inmate number and state of your pen pal. With some research, you should be able to find why a person is incarcerated. If, after these options, you still don't know why your pen pal is incarcerated, ask them. Be honest about your research before writing and tell them you couldn't find the reason of incarceration but before you continue writing, you would like to know first why that person is in prison. It is your right to know why that person is there. As soon as you know why somebody is in prison, you can decide if you want to write or not. If you decide that you cannot write someone, again be honest about that and continue your search until you've found someone that meets your criteria.

If you decide to go with writing regular letters, it is not always easy to start. But there is always something interesting you might want to share. Don't get too personal yet in your first letter. Write something about yourself, what you like to do. You can think about what you would say when you've just met someone in a bar. Talk about where you live, the weather, what you did during the day. Writing the first letter might feel awkward at first, but it will get easier with time. Some of the basic rules when writing a letter is to use black/blue ink, white paper, and white envelopes. Some prisons allow pictures, other do not. Your penpal can tell you all about the mailing rules. Do not use glue, stickers, perfume, lipstick. Try to keep your letter as plain as possible until you received the mailing rules from your penpal. You can ask your penpal to send the rules to you. Some facilities accept cards, while others do not. In your first letter, it's also important to share your expectations and boundaries. Also, try to give them a clear idea of how often you can write. Just make sure your penpal knows what your boundaries and expectations are from the beginning.

In the left corner, you print your name, address, zip code/postal code, state/province and your country (if you live overseas). In the center of the envelope, you write down the inmate's name, DOC number, name of facility (optional is housing unit), PO box or address, zip code, state, and country (if you live overseas). Prisons can be extremely strict and can return the letter if any of the info is missing.

Depending on where you live, it can take several weeks before you get a letter back. Within states or within the country it usually takes a couple of days. When you live overseas, it can usually take 4 to 6 weeks before getting a letter. It all depends on the mail, the facility and if an inmate has sufficient funds to write you back.

It can happen that you and your pen pal do not have a connection. It can take a while before you get to know your pen pal. But the longer you write, the better you get to know your pen pal and the friendships you'll have with them, can be really great. Do not give up too soon. Give it a few months before deciding there is no click. If you did try it, and there is still no connection after some time, be honest about it to your pen pal. Write them a letter and tell them that you've tried to find a connection but there simply is no connection. Do not drop your pen pal without letting them know you don't want to write anymore because you have nothing in common. Remember, letters mean a lot to the people behind bars. Most of them are looking forward to getting mail.

Prisons are currently undergoing a lot of quarantines due to covid protocols. If you are trying to track down an inmate the best tool is Google. All you will need is the state they are located, their name, and their DOC number. All of these are located on the person's profile page under the Contact tab.

Yes, some facilities offer video visits through Securus, Jpay, GTL or other services. Check with the inmate which service they are using. It might be possible that you have to be on the approved visitor list to be able to do video visits. Ask your pen pal what you have to do to be able to do video visits.

Yes. But keep in mind that you should be able to keep up with writing. The more pen pals you have, the harder it will be for you to meet your and their expectations. It is NOT recommended to write more than one person in the SAME facility. It can cause problems inside the prisons between your pen pals.

It all depends on what your expectations are. If your expectations are platonic, you can always tell your pen pal you write one or multiple people. You don't have to tell your pen pals how many people you write. But to build a solid relationship/friendship, honesty is one of the key words. If you're involved romantically, you will have to look at the boundaries.

It is not recommended to send your pen pal money. Some inmates might take advantage of you when you're sending money. These inmates are called 'scammers'. Their goal is to obtain money from several people and making you believe you're the only one. Do not fall for the red flags. If something is too good to be true, it is usually too good to be true.

Some prisons ask you to apply for the visitor list in order to receive phone calls. You need to check with the inmate what it is that you have to do. If you're overseas, you are able to get an American phone number through different apps like Skype or TextMe.

Some websites/apps only have access if you're in the US. You can go around it by using a VPN, like Windscribe. When you put on your VPN, you can have access to websites like Connect Network and Jpay. Turn on your VPN if you want to set up an account with Connect Network. When you're setting up an account use an American address and your American phone number. You can get an address through an USA address generator, just simply type that in on Google. Use that address for your account along with your American phone number. You can use Advance Pay to add funds to your account so your loved one can call you.

1. Some websites that offer inmate services won't accept foreign credit cards. Please reach out to their Customer Service in order to figure out a way for you to use your credit card.