Pen Pal Ban for Prisoners Is Opposed

In her online profile, Paula Jones says she is 42, "nonjudgmental" and likes fishing, gardening and cuddling.

Ms. Jones, a Florida prison inmate, posted her listing on a Web site called WriteAPrisoner.com, but by doing that, she is breaking a rule. Florida officials have banned inmates like Ms. Jones, who will be in prison until at least 2010, from having the Match.com-style listings. Prison officials say inmates create problems for their outside-the-pen pals.

But now lawsuits in Florida and elsewhere are trying to get the bans revoked, saying that they are unfair and violate prisoners' constitutional rights.

"The public knows when they're writing to these people that they're prisoners," said Randall Berg Jr., a lawyer representing 2 pen pal groups including WriteAPrisoner.com, based in Florida that have sued in the state. "Nobody is being duped here."

Adam Lovell, the president of WriteAPrisoner.com, said the majority of the people who use his site to write to inmates are from religious groups, military people stationed overseas and others affected by the prison. Fraud is not as widespread as Florida corrections officials suggest, Mr. Lovell said.

In 2003, the Florida Department of Corrections began prohibiting inmates from advertising for pen pals or getting mail from pen pal groups. Inmates who continue to advertise can have privileges revoked. The department made the change after receiving complaints from people who had been taken advantage of and from victims and their families who saw prisoners' advertisements, said a department spokeswoman, Gretl Plessinger.

Other states Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Pennsylvania have similar restrictions. And lawsuits have been filed in some of those states, too.

In Indiana, the American Civil Liberties Union is representing prisoners protesting the state's policy, which also prevents inmates from advertising on Web sites or receiving mail from pen pal organizations.

The A.C.L.U. also says it is working on a lawsuit over Missouri's policy and investigating the policy in Montana, where inmates may not receive mail from people who identify themselves as a pen pal.

Source: New York Times, July 30, 2009