Guides
Short, plain guides for the two people a pen pal profile brings together: the family member listing someone, and the person who decides to write. Every rule we quote links to the prison system's own published source.
How to put a loved one on a prison pen pal site
Step by step, from asking them first to the profile going live.
How to write your first letter to someone in prison
What to say, what to leave out, and how to send it so it arrives.
Prison mail rules: scanned mail, photos and what gets rejected
Why most prison mail is now scanned, and how to write so it still gets through.
Prison messaging apps by state
Which app each prison system uses for electronic messages, from the department's own pages.
Writing safely
Protect your money and your address, and know you can always stop.
What a prison pen pal profile really costs
Eight sites' price pages, read the same day, side by side.
Pen pal rules by state
Which prison systems restrict pen pal listings, quoted from their own policies.