Romancing Inmates
The Proliferation of Personal Ads
By Daniel Muniz

Personal ads on the Internet from inmates have grown by leaps and bounds. These convicts are looking for just about anything ranging from simple friendship to romance to marriage although there are always a handful of them that are just downright perverted in their solicitation.

But it is this ease of access to the outside world that has worried the public and outraged the families of victims.

In the state I live in which is Texas and as with nearly all other states, inmates do not have any kind of access to the net or even to a computer inside of a state prison. However, it is the friends and families of the prisoners who set up the personal ads. That is also how the incarcerated are able to have web sites and for the most notorious criminals, a web site has been instrumental in establishing a fan club of devoted admirers.

And even if the public may view most of the incarcerated as lowlife degenerates, there are plenty of people of the opposite sex who choose to see only the positive attributes. Although society may be puzzled at this phenomenon, there have always been quite a number of women who are fascinated and enthralled with ruthless imprisoned thugs. Perhaps it is living life on the edge or the drama or the perverse thrill of romantically hooking up with someone dangerous. Either way, there is quite a demand in cyberspace for these hoodlums.

As a result of this success, more prisoners are now emboldened to try their luck online through the numerous pen pal networks and matchmaking sites currently available. It just takes a small fee to enroll in these services and a little bit of effort from somebody on the outside to set up an account. Afterwards, there really is nothing to stop an inmate from getting flooded with mail.

And looking for incarcerated love is not restricted solely to male inmates. There are also plenty of female prisoners who turn to the net in their search of love and romance.

Although a correctional institution can monitor a prisoner’s mail and search for contraband in incoming letters that is pretty much the limit of what they can do. According to Jason Clark of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice:

And that response is not much different from that of other states.

There is a legitimate concern about inmates who have this kind of reach to the outside world especially since many of them are not only violent thugs but they are also master manipulators.

Unfortunately, this situation is nothing more than a product of demand. The people who want to have contact with the incarcerated for friendship and romance are very much willing to overlook the bad behavior that put them in prison. If this perverse desire didn’t exist, then there would not be this kind of demand for it.

Naturally, the family and friends of the victims as well as surviving victims want these personal ads immediately removed. To them, these wild-eyed hoodlums destroyed lives and caused indescribable pain not only to their victims but to their loved ones that could very well last for a lifetime.

And their anger is very much justified. Inmates should not be allowed to circumvent a rule which is precisely what they are doing by using third parties to set up their personal ads. But more to the point, punishment is supposed to be the revocation of privileges. As a result, jail ought to be a harsh and severe environment that lacks frills. Having this kind of access to the outside world is a luxury that needs to be halted.

Sadly, there is not much that can be done by correctional institutions.

Even legislation would have limited impact. What would be forbidden in one state would be allowed in a more permissive state. A federal statute would have to be enacted in order to have a blanket nationwide effect. Even so, such laws would be tied up in the courts by organizations such as the ACLU filing lawsuits on behalf of the inmates.

Although a ban on personal ads may pass muster, there would certainly be constitutional issues involving banning an inmate’s personal web site and other similar free speech mediums. About the only approach that may be feasible is to restrict any cyberspace activity from sex offenders. There are already plenty of similar precedents in place that severely limit the online pursuits of sex predators. It would just be enormously more difficult to apply the same restriction to everyone else already incarcerated.

But for the time being, perhaps the most effective tool is to apply public pressure on the companies and independent web site owners that offer pen-pal networks and matchmaking services. The big corporations don’t want inmates as customers so they have already policed themselves. The issue is really with the independent operators and the outfits that specialize in prisoners. Public pressure and bad publicity would be the only way right now to get these personal ads and listings removed.

In summary, it is just outrageous that there are normal people out there who are enthralled with the idea of romancing dangerous criminals.

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