Episodes

In the 1990s, DeWayne Lee Harris was responsible for the tragic deaths of multiple women, earning infamy in the Seattle, Washington area under chilling monikers such as Chilly Willy, The Seattle Jungle Killer, and The Seattle...

Jason Kurtz is a PenPals.Buzz member who lives and loves fitness. He remembers his first workout at the age of 11; since then, he never looked back. Over the past 30+ years, Jason has managed over 15 gyms, has worked for comp...

Jacobi Thornsberry’s journey began in the vibrant streets of New Orleans, Louisiana. Seeking an escape from the bustling chaos of the city, he made the leap to Oregon. However, fate had other plans, and within three years, he...

Changing your name while incarcerated is impossible in some states, and quite easy in others. There are countless reasons why someone behind bars might feel the need to legally reinvent themselves. In this episode, we’ll expl...

"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 asso...

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 lov...

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, M...

Britney Gulley is his legal name, but this female to male transgender inmate is better known as Xandan. He's a political prisoner, activist, and published writer. Xandan Gulley enjoys football, reading, astrology, Greek myth...

Richard Strong was convicted of First-Degree Murder for the 2011 shooting of Ygnacio Bermudez, Jr., on the streets of Lansing, Michigan. Rick, who was sentenced to Life without Parole, claims he was wrongfully convicted of th...

Robert, a PenPals.Buzz Super Fan , works as a caretaker in Illinois. After some personal experiences with friends and family members being arrested and incarcerated, he decided it was time for less judgment and more kindness....

In 1993, Marc Rosemond was convicted of 3 counts of murder and sentenced to Life in prison. Now, 33 years later, he calls the Prison Pen Pal Podcast from his cell at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, New York....

Matt Reynolds, Prison Inmate #2014486 at the Great Plains Correctional Center, is quite possibly the most interesting man in Oklahoma. This former Marine, paint salesman, and toy store manager most recently worked as a ground...

Thanksgiving in prison is a plate full of mixed emotions. On one hand, there's excitement with the special holiday meal (often including real turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie). It's a time for cellmates and friends to...

When Ryan Rice was growing up in Illinois, his parents let him do anything he wanted. Spoiled might be the word that comes to mind. The "freedom" he was granted as a young child ultimately sculpted him into a man with no dire...

Prison Pen Pals, defined as prison inmates who write letters to people on the outside, may be incarcerated for doing really bad things, but they're STILL HUMAN. That's the belief of Salena in Indiana, a 22-year-old student (a...

As we celebrate Halloween today, we thought we'd invite inmates around the USA to join in on the fun, eat some candy, and share their traditions both in and out of prison. We wondered if they watch scary movies from the prison dayroom, if they make homemade goodies or buy homemade candy from other …

Over 25 years ago, just a few days after the turn of the millennium and the Y2K madness, Marvin Dearing was arrested, interrogated, and ultimately convicted of murder. But did he do it? New DNA evidence suggests not, but the ...

Prison Pen Pal David Bomber has been incarcerated for 15 years at Nottoway Correctional Center in Burkeville, Virginia, but there's so much more to his story. This blogger and artist once acted in the same movie with Tom Crui...

Jason Kurtz, an incarcerated author at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, has written four highly praised books: Secrets to Wealth , Secrets to Wisdom , Secrets to Wealth and Wisdom , and Secret Tales of the Su...

It was Easter, 2020. PenPals.Buzz member Colby Brookman was driving home from dinner at his mother-in-law's house, where he had been drinking. His wife, J'lynne Stothers, was a passenger in the front seat. In the back were Co...

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...

As a young boy, Christian LaFargo was introducted to the violent El Monte Flores EMF gang, affiliated with the Mexican Mafia, in Southern California. Forced to grow up with an incarcerated father, EMF was all he ever knew. "I...

When a prison inmate spends their hard-earned money for a pen pal profile, it should be considered an investment -- into their lives, their happiness, and their future. But what actually makes a profile good or bad? In this e...

Jimmy Tench, convicted of murdering his mother, Mary Tench, and sentenced to Death Row in Ohio, recently appeared on Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks (Season 2, Episode 4: He Murdered My Mother). Now, Jimmy (or James Tench, as he's listed in the Ohio DOC) speaks to us from a telephone in his pris…