Questions
|
Answers from Toja
|
| How
can I ad a new prisoner? |
Download
my form and send
it to him/her. |
| What
are the costs for him/her to place an ad? |
It
is free. |
| What
can I send to him? |
It
depends in what prison he is in.
Don't send him anything else beside your letter or written postcard
until you have asked him what the mail rules are at the place
he is in. |
| What
address do I need to write to a prisoner? |
Write
the address as it is written in the ad. |
| Can
I send money? |
Ask
the prisoner if and how he can receive money. Many can receive
US Postal Money Orders. Others can receive a US Postal Money
Order to an Inmate Trust Fund. The prisoner will give you the
informations and/or the necessary form. |
| Can
I send books, newspapers etc.? |
Ask
the prisoner. The most prisoners can receive them directly from
the publisher (Amazon, bookshop etc.). |
| Can
I send photos? |
Ask
the prisoner. The most prisoners are allowed to receive photos
(no polaroids, no nude ones). |
| How
can I find a prisoner who got transfered? |
For Federal Prisoners (they
have a # like: #....-...) go to www.bop.gov
For State Prisoners go to the Inmate Locator.
Unfortunately not all States have an online Inmate Locator.
Then you can call the DOC (Department of Corrections) and
ask.
|
| I
have a loved one in prison, feel alone and have so many open
questions. Do you know where I could meet other people in the
same situation? |
Go
to www.prisontalk.com
There are many people in the same situation. |
| Have
prisoners access to e-mail and internet? |
No |
| I
want to visit him. What do I have to do? |
Ask
the prisoner and he/she will send you a visitor form and give
you the necessary informations. When you are approved to visit
the prisoner, he/she will tell you. Ask the prisoner also to
send you the needed informations about visits in a prison (what
to wear, what to bring with you etc.) |
| I
will visit an inmate but don't know where to stay and the way
to prison. |
Ask
the prisoner. Perhaps there are friends outside who can help
you with a ride or stay. Or try to find a support group for
the State he/she is in and ask there. A good place to ask is
on www.prisontalk.com |
| I
have further questions and find no answer here. |
Send
me an e-mail and
I will try to help you. |
| How
do you finance this service? |
I
pay all by myself but need donations.... |
| How
up-to-date are the informations on this website? |
When
I receive a note from the prisoner with new informations, address
etc. I add it asap.
When I have time I control the addresses of prisoners from States
with an online Inmate Locator and of Federal Prisoners.
But I request the prisoners to send new informations to me to
make their ads up-to-date. |
| What
should a prisoner do if he/she has a new address or wants to
change the ad? |
Tell
him/her to send me the changes. |
| Are
prisoners allowed to work? |
It depends where he is at,
if there is work for inmates, if he decide to work, and if
he is allowed to work.
Prisoners on Death Row or in Administrative Segretion (the
hole) are mostly not allowed to work.
|
| What
to do if a prisoner wants to ad a photo, drawing beside his/her
ad? |
Tell
him/her to send me what he wants to ad together with the information
if I should send the items back. |
| How
safe is it to write to a prisoner? |
What
is safe in our life?
You can open a Post Box address, so your real address is not
known by the prisoner.
If you feel more comfortable you can give him your home address
if wanted. |
| I
want to know for what crime he/she is in prison. |
Ask
the prisoner. You can also call the prison and ask his/her counselor.
There are also States with an inmate locator with further informations.
There are also States that have a Sex-Offender list online,
or a phone # where you can call and ask for it. |
| What should
I do if I made bad experiences with a prisoner from your website? |
Please
let me know. At least I can remove him from the website and
write to him, so others will not go through the same as you. |
| Are
prisoners allowed to call? |
Yes,
but it depends. There are several restrictions possible. Ask
the prisoner. |
| Can
I call the prisoner? |
No.
In urgent situations you can call the prison and ask if they
would forward a message or bring him to the phone.
The best I think is, to ask for his/her counselor. |
| Have
you checked the prisoners on your website if they are good pen-pals
and not abuse their pen-pals for some reason? |
No
That is impossible and not my business.
But I remove prisoners when I know they abused a pen-pal.
And I collect at the moment informations from pen-pals about
their experiences with prisoners who played bad games. |
| Do
you know for what crimes the prisoners on your website are in
prison? |
No
I don't ask, that is not my business. |
| How
is your opinion about the Death Penalty? |
If
the law does not allow people to kill somebody, then this same
law should be the same also for the States, Countries.
The most Countries have no Death Penalties and the criminality
is more less then in the States in USA with a Death Penalty.
And - the humankind should know other ways in this days to realize
that to kill people in the name of the State is not the right
way.
The State should look for ways for prisoners with a life sentence
(people on Death Row have a life sentence....), how they could
pay back something to the community. This could be with projects
to prevent kids on risk to end in prison, work-programs for
the poors etc.
And because people always ask about how many an inmate costs
the tax-payer, I think there are many ways inmates could work
and pay back for their costs. This would be much cheaper as
people on Death Row who are not alowed to work.
And it would make more sense.... |
| Why
you started this service? |
I
would give especially Native American prisoners a free place
to make contact to people in the free world. |
| Why
is your service free? |
I
want my service to be for every Native American Prisoner. If
it would not be free, then again, the quote "with money
you can buy all" seems to be true again.
And the poor ones would be punished and discriminated again.
There is much that can not be paid with money.... |
| How
can I support your service? |
We are grateful if you can
support our service and appreciate every donation.
You can become a member of Worldwide Friends >>>
We are always in need of:
- Money donations to pay
the costs for the website, stamps, paper, envelopes, urgent
needs of prisoners, phone costs etc.
- Stamps (US and Switzerland)
- Ink for the printer (HP
DeskJet 990Cxi)
|
