Daniel Dean Morris: Incarcerated Author and Father
Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, you’ll see and hear people asserting that all inmates are scum, that inmates deserve to rot and die in prison. Big Steve disagrees, reasoning that with 2.3 million incarcerated men and women in America, it’s impossible to put them all into a tiny little box labeled “SCUM”. While some […]
Wrongful Convictions: Like Father, Like Son?
Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew, Nathan Myers, were released from prison in 2019 after 43 years of being wrongfully convicted of murder. Already suffering from early onset dementia, Williams wasn’t really able to celebrate his release, nor to enjoy his freedom before his death earlier this year. He was given close to 2 million […]
One Ounce of Pot, 16 Years in Prison: The Harrowing Real-Life Story of Trent Bouhdida
Over the course of three months in 2015, PenPals.Buzz member Trent Bouhdida sold undercover officer Ronald Elcock (call me Kev) a total of one ounce of marijuana. Eight months later, he was arrested by two U.S. Marshalls, while attempting to drive his wife (who had recently given birth) to a job interview. He never made […]
Thinking About Visiting Your Pen Pal?
Here’s a fairly common scenario: you meet an amazing pen pal, you exchange letters and emails, talk on the phone, and make a genuine connection. But you want something more. You want to see them in person, hug them, hear their laugh, or even eat a meal together. It’s time to think about filling out […]
Civil Commitment: Terrifying Policy that Pretends Prisoners are Patients
In 1998, Benjamin Alverson was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He completed his sentence, paid his debt to society, and at the turn of the millennium he was excited to be released. Why, then, is he still locked up (without having committed any new crimes) 26 years later? It’s due to a disturbing, frightening, […]
The Origin of Pen Pals: Learn How it All Started
Big Steve explores the complete history of pen palling. You’ll learn when “pen pal” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and what, exactly, was its original definition. Then, find out about a high-tech pen pal matching service that was all the rage at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Later in the episode, Big Steve will talk about some famous pen pal pairs from throughout history, such as Tony Danza and Tupac Shakur.
High-Profile Prison Inmates: Do They Deserve to be Treated like Human Beings?
In this episode, Big Steve discusses the differing views in society regarding high-profile inmates and their humanity (or lack thereof). If someone committed a horrific crime, are they still deserving of being treated with kindness and dignity? Big Steve shares some reasons why starting a pen pal correspondence with high-profile inmates is good for some, and bad for others. He then looks deeper into two high-profile members of PenPals.Buzz.
Dating An Inmate: Challenges Couples Face when Taking their Prison Pen Pal Relationship to the Next Level
Big Steve and his wife, Anya, found love on a prison pen pal website. Today they share stories, red flags, and strategies to help other couples succeed during and after incarceration. Learn what to look for in the initial pen pal ad, what red flags to watch for, and when to know to walk away. Hear about what Anya did to keep the relationship fun and exciting. And enjoy a candid conversation, with lots of laughs, between this happily married husband and wife. It’s not easy, but the two of them have proven Love After Lockup is, in fact, possible! And it’s not always the way it’s depicted on reality TV.
No Mail for You: How Mail Scanning Policies are Destroying Inmates and their Families
Prisons in over 15 states no longer deliver physical mail. Birthday cards, letters, and family photos now all must get scanned and uploaded to an inmate’s tablet. Those without a tablet can pay for a printed color copy of the mail. The process is slow and flawed; mail often can take months to arrive, the […]
Is A Prison Pen Pal Right for You?
