When I’ve told people about this project, although finding it interesting, they have wondered why on earth I would want to make contact with somebody who is judged as guilty for a crime and sentenced in prison for X amount of years.
I became interested in prisoners writing to people two years ago when a couple coursemates and I appeared on BBC news about a university project. Following its broadcast I received an email from university admin saying I had a letter to pick up.
This letter turned out to be somebody from a UK prison who had seen the BBC broadcast and had decided to write to me. If I am honest the first thing I wanted to do was to disassociate myself with it. The letter itself was worded very unusually and with a lot of flattery which made me uncomfortable. I was advised not to reply and so it was put back into its envelope and tucked away for the last two years.
It’s always been at the back of my mind as something I would like to explore and now the opportunity for this project has given me time to do this.
Friends and relatives especially have voiced slight concerns as to where this could lead me but I have decided to seek a new pen pal following a lot of research into websites that put you in touch with those incarcerated.
So I’ll keep you posted on what I find out next.
My Prison Pen Pal 