Episodes

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 a visiting application. Visiting an inmate, especially if it's your first time at a prison, can cause feelings of stress and anxiety. However, it's not as scary as it probably seems. In this episode, PenPals.Buzz founder, Big Steve, and office manager, Daisy, share their real-life stories and advice to help ensure your first visit goes as smoothly as possible. They also discuss topics such as visiting room food, dress codes, do's and don'ts, and even the people you may meet in the waiting room. Steve also speaks with a PenPals.Buzz member, Jacques Avery, who is incarcerated in Illinois and hoping to meet a woman who will eventually visit him.

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, unconstitutional, and horrific practice known as Civil Commitment, where courts pretend that prisoners are patients. "It's not prison, it's not punishment, it's just mental health treatment," they insist. The "inmates" must be referred to as "clients." And their cell has to be called a "room." That's all the justification most judges need to certify that being locked away, often for one's entire life, against their will and without any jury trial, is really just mental health treatment. How does this happen? In short, a prison clinician (often with a questionable degree from an online college) makes an assessment that an inmate has a mental illness and might pose a risk to soci…

In this week's episode, Big Steve explores the complete history of pen palling. You'll learn when the phrase "pen pal" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and what, exactly, was its original definition. Then, find out about a high-tech penpal 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. And what about 100-year-old man and woman who have been writing letters to one another for over 80 years? Finally, the inmate spotlight will focus on a former college professor who has been incarcerated since 1981. If you want to become his pen friend, we'll tell you how.

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? Or, as many think, are they simply "monsters" that should be discarded and forgotten about forever? 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. One received a 16-year sentence for selling an ounce of marijuana. The other is better known as the "Yuma Killer," and he was sentenced to 50 years. Learn more about their backgrounds, their life stories, their crimes, and decide for yourself if either of them would make a good pen pal for you.

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.

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 quality of the scans is abysmal. What's worse, the purported benefit of reducing drugs and dangerous contraband from entering facilities never came to fruition. In fact, Missouri reported more drug overdoses a year after their Mail Scanning Policy was implemented. In this week's episode, Big Steve unveils the real reasons why prisons have implemented these draconian measures. The answer may surprise and sadden you. He will also explore the ways these sadistic policies by prison officials have created more harm than good for everyone involved.

Our very first episode. Not the best sound quality, but a good way to get an introduction to PenPals.Buzz and the Prison Pen Pal Podcast, while learning more about the host, Big Steve, and his journey and ultimate marriage to his pen pal wife, Anya.