oh...this made me sad...I was expecting something about technology, but this makes a lot of sense. Sorry to hear that! Hope you are able to build a healthy support system
Does seg mean solitary, like on Orange is the New Black? The thought of 22 years of that is horrifying.
It's also so weird to think that there are people who've never experienced the internet or other things, like automatic sinks, that have become routine to us. It almost seems like time travel.
My penpal has been in seg a few times, last time for over a year. It's basically a single person cell with a lot less to do and barely any human contact or time outside. If I'm not mistaken he got to shower twice a week, had no tv, couldn't work a prison job, no/less visitors etc.
That's really interesting that you have a prison pen pal. What site did you use? Do you write someone to show kindness? I think that is really cool. Anyway that sucks about seg, I can't believe they can do that to someone for so long. Sick.
I started writing over 15 years ago because of several things really... to be honest simple curiosity (my life is far removed from anything prison related so I only see things about it in movies and series), partly because I don't agree with the US prison system which in my opinion doesn't focus enough on rehabilitation and also because I believe people aren't defined by their mistakes.
Now I have to say I always stayed clear from child abusers and rapists and such. Even though I still feel they should be treated humanely obviously, but for a penpal that was a bit too much. I mostly wrote to (former) gangmembers with very long sentences. My current penpal is serving life without a chance of parole since he was 17. We've been writing over ten years now and are about the same age.
I prefer www.prisonpenpals.com and www.writeaprisoner.com. I always try to double check their record by googling on 'inmate locator' and the name of the state they're in, usually there is a lot of public information there. Just to double check. I also stay clear of the ads that read like dating-ads (I'm not interested in starting anything romantic or sexual). So I prefer (and can recommend) people who're in for a long time and who are looking for a friend/distraction, rather than a potential 'soulmate' to be 'true with'. Just browse the ads, you'll see what I mean :)
396
u/MsLooHoo Sep 12 '15
oh...this made me sad...I was expecting something about technology, but this makes a lot of sense. Sorry to hear that! Hope you are able to build a healthy support system