Prison Relationships Episodes

"Welcome to More than an Inmate's Girlfriend. I'm your host, Jae," speaks a soothing voice each week from her podcast studio in Canada. Since 2024, Jae Ely has been releasing podcast episodes aimed at reducing the stigma associated with prisoners, prison wives, and even pen pals who choose to write to prison inmates. Jae, who is married to an inmate (yet not allowed to communicate with him!) talks about her life, her podcast, and the challenges she's faced along the way. In this exclusive interv...

Romantic relationships between an inmate and their free-world pen pal often start out like a whirlwind romance. After just a few letters exchanged, prisoners often feel like they met the person of their dreams, their true love, their soulmate. But is any of it actually real, or are they merely living in a fantasy world of false hopes and future faking? In this episode, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and founder of Gratitude and Growth Counseling, Jennifer Garcia, breaks it down. You'll learn a...

Prison relationships can seem like a fairytale love story. Take Anthony Cloud, for instance. A few years ago, he met the love of his life, Melissa on PenPals.Buzz. They referred to each other as husband and wife. After all, Melissa told him she was pregnant with his twins. According to Anthony, she had the ultrasound pictures to prove it. Having grown up in foster care, he never had a family who loved him. When he met Melissa, all of his dreams came true. But shortly thereafter, Anthony realized...

Annie Perry is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who often helps her therapy clients learn to manage grief. She's also a prison wife. Annie met her husband, Henry, nine years ago on a prison pen pal site called Friends Beyond the Wall. Today, their relationship is stronger than ever. Together, they formed a business called JailHouse Books, and have subsequently published over 90 books, including at least 75 activity books created specifically for incarcerated men and women. In addition to sud...

On the evening of July 17, 2024, Bianca, from the UK, was browsing inmate profiles on PenPals.Buzz and was attracted to Armon Irons, an American prisoner with tattooed hands. Minutes later, she sent him this email: Good evening Armon, Sending you lots of love from across the pond. Loved your profile. Never done this before. I am a virgin! If you would like me to write to you I can. Anyhow, I will keep this short and sweet like me! Tally Ho Captain. At the time, nobody would have guessed th...

For over 16 years, Andrew, a real-life 40-year-old virgin, has been sending money to male inmates, hoping to find love. We applaud him for being brave enough to share his story on the podcast. Hear how much money he has sent to prison inmates, why he feels he does what he does, how he deals with the heartbreak, and other personal details of his life story. Then, we speak via prison telephone with Kevin, author Inmate Intentions: The Truth About Inmate Scams and Prison Hustles. Kevin used to be a scammer from behind bars, but once he met his wife on a pen pal site, he decided to change his ways. Feeling bad about all the women he took advantage of in the past, he promises to atone for his ways and help others learn the red flags of inmate manipulation. Learn more about his miraculous transformation and hear what he feels is the biggest red flag to watch for when you're involved with a prison pen pal. "From money requests to fake emergencies, inmates use calculated tactics to get financ…

This holiday season, we celebrate myriad lifelong friendships and relationships which we have helped facilitate between incarcerated individuals and their free-world pen pals. In 2024 alone, PenPals.Buzz helped generate hundreds of long-term friendships and relationships, several engagements, and at least three marriages! On this final episode of the year, we interview Patrick and Melissa Cloud, who met right here on PenPals.Buzz. Learn about their journey and discover how a nurse from South Dakota found happiness with a prison inmate in Washington state. We wish them all the best for 2025 and beyond.Later in the episode, we talk with PenPals.Buzz member Zachary (Zac) Lopez. Zac, a 24-year-old Christian incarcerated in Idaho, shares with us what Christmas is like in prison. Learn about how the holiday affects prisoners' emotions in both good and bad ways. Hear what kind of special meal awaits them in the chow hall. And learn about holidays in Zac's unit bring people together around …

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.