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PODCAST

Prison Pen Pal Podcast

Many believe prison inmates to be completely undeserving of love or friendship. PenPals.Buzz founder, Big Steve, disagrees. He discusses the value of having a pen pal, both for the inmate and for the free-world individual. He should know -- after all, in 2014, he met his wife on a prison pen pal website. In this fascinating podcast, Big Steve shares contrasting opinions from men and women of all walks of life in attempt to answer this key question: should all 2.1 million prison inmates in

true crime relationships

All Episodes

00:25:35

Prison Artist: An Interview with Alfson

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/04/25

St. Peter, Minnesota boasts a plethora of sights: a beautiful arboretum, a Veteran's Memorial, the Paddlefish Brewing Company (with 12 homemade beers on tap) and last but not least, the prison artist known as Alfson. This artist, whose real name is Benjamin Alverson, can't really be considered a prison artist, as he is technically not in prison. He's been held captive in a Civil Commitment Facility (a prison disguised as a mental health hospital to get

en-us

00:25:35

Prison Artist: An Interview with Alfson

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/04/25

St. Peter, Minnesota boasts a plethora of sights: a beautiful arboretum, a Veteran's Memorial, the Paddlefish Brewing Company (with 12 homemade beers on tap) and last but not least, the prison artist known as Alfson. This artist, whose real name is Benjamin Alverson, can't really be considered a prison artist, as he is technically not in prison. He's been held captive in a Civil Commitment Facility (a prison disguised as a mental health hospital to get

en-us

00:34:22

Ghosted By My Prison Pen Pal

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/03/31

For over 16 years, Andrew, a real-life 40-year-old virgin, has been sending money to male inmates, hoping to find love. We applaud him for being brave enough to share his story on the podcast. Hear how much money he has sent to prison inmates, why he feels he does what he does, how he deals with the heartbreak, and other personal details of his life story. Then, we speak via prison telephone with Kevin, author Inmate Intentions: The Truth About Inmate

en-us

00:34:22

Ghosted By My Prison Pen Pal

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/03/31

For over 16 years, Andrew, a real-life 40-year-old virgin, has been sending money to male inmates, hoping to find love. We applaud him for being brave enough to share his story on the podcast. Hear how much money he has sent to prison inmates, why he feels he does what he does, how he deals with the heartbreak, and other personal details of his life story. Then, we speak via prison telephone with Kevin, author Inmate Intentions: The Truth About Inmate

en-us

00:14:58

Microwave Manifesto: Food and Philosophy Behind Bars

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/03/15

In the early morning hours of May 1, 2019, Paris Siripavaket (also known as Sirii) was involved in a traffic accident that would send her to prison for six years. Paris, a self-proclaimed "suburban cat mom," had worked a professional job in sales and had no clue what to do when she first walked into her Ohio prison. She wasn't even sure the proper way to make her prison bed. Paris had to figure it out, and fast! Since 2021, she's been busy with myriad artistic and writing

en-us

00:14:58

Microwave Manifesto: Food and Philosophy Behind Bars

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/03/15

In the early morning hours of May 1, 2019, Paris Siripavaket (also known as Sirii) was involved in a traffic accident that would send her to prison for six years. Paris, a self-proclaimed "suburban cat mom," had worked a professional job in sales and had no clue what to do when she first walked into her Ohio prison. She wasn't even sure the proper way to make her prison bed. Paris had to figure it out, and fast! Since 2021, she's been busy with myriad

en-us

00:34:38

Connection: The Real Reason People Seek Out Inmate...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/02/28

When most people hear that someone has proactively decided to write, befriend, or even date a prison inmate, they think it's weird, bizarre, or unhealthy. So many people, not accustomed to the prison pen pal world, will ask, "Why would you write an inmate? Why not find a friend (or partner) who ISN'T incarcerated?" This same question recently came up at one of Big Steve's therapy sessions. Why would someone proactively choose to look for an inmate friend, instead of someone not

en-us

00:34:38

Connection: The Real Reason People Seek Out Inmate...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/02/28

When most people hear that someone has proactively decided to write, befriend, or even date a prison inmate, they think it's weird, bizarre, or unhealthy. So many people, not accustomed to the prison pen pal world, will ask, "Why would you write an inmate? Why not find a friend (or partner) who ISN'T incarcerated?" This same question recently came up at one of Big Steve's therapy sessions. Why would someone proactively choose to look for an inmate friend, instead of someone not

en-us

00:36:41

It Wasn't Me: Bad DNA? Framed By the CIA?

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/01/28

62-year-old Mark Huber is serving a lengthy sentence in Idaho for sex crimes he claims he didn't commit. "I am not freaking guilty," he loudly proclaims early on in this episode. According to Huber, the DNA used to convict him belonged to a Hispanic female. Then, we head slightly northwest to Aberdeen, Washington, where PenPals.Buzz member Rich Parenteau, convicted of murdering his mother and stepfather with an axe, describes in detail how he was framed by the CIA. Both men

en-us

00:36:41

It Wasn't Me: Bad DNA? Framed By the CIA?

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2025/01/28

62-year-old Mark Huber is serving a lengthy sentence in Idaho for sex crimes he claims he didn't commit. "I am not freaking guilty," he loudly proclaims early on in this episode. According to Huber, the DNA used to convict him belonged to a Hispanic female. Then, we head slightly northwest to Aberdeen, Washington, where PenPals.Buzz member Rich Parenteau, convicted of murdering his mother and stepfather with an axe, describes in detail how he was framed by the CIA. Both men

en-us

00:29:55

The Holiday Episode: Happily Ever After!

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/12/21

This holiday season, we celebrate myriad lifelong friendships and relationships which we have helped facilitate between incarcerated individuals and their free-world pen pals. In 2024 alone, PenPals.Buzz helped generate hundreds of long-term friendships and relationships, several engagements, and at least three marriages! On this final episode of the year, we interview Patrick and Melissa Cloud, who met right here on PenPals.Buzz. Learn about their journey and discover how a

en-us

00:29:55

The Holiday Episode: Happily Ever After!

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/12/21

This holiday season, we celebrate myriad lifelong friendships and relationships which we have helped facilitate between incarcerated individuals and their free-world pen pals. In 2024 alone, PenPals.Buzz helped generate hundreds of long-term friendships and relationships, several engagements, and at least three marriages! On this final episode of the year, we interview Patrick and Melissa Cloud, who met right here on PenPals.Buzz. Learn about their journey and discover how a

en-us

00:31:55

Marijuana Inmates: Amy in Arizona Wrote to a Dozen...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/11/26

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy, a cannabis marketing executive in Arizona, felt especially bad for incarcerated men and women. Prison was bad enough; the thought of the pandemic causing so many prisoners to be locked down constantly, not even allowed into the dayroom, was disheartening. In her late 40s at the time, and single, Amy took it upon herself to write to a dozen inmates. "Think of me as the cool aunt," she told some of them, making sure that the

en-us

00:31:55

Marijuana Inmates: Amy in Arizona Wrote to a Dozen...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/11/26

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy, a cannabis marketing executive in Arizona, felt especially bad for incarcerated men and women. Prison was bad enough; the thought of the pandemic causing so many prisoners to be locked down constantly, not even allowed into the dayroom, was disheartening. In her late 40s at the time, and single, Amy took it upon herself to write to a dozen inmates. "Think of me as the cool aunt," she told some of them, making sure that the

en-us

00:29:59

Killer with a Conscience: The Will Leverett Interview

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/11/12

In 2011, Will Leverett stabbed 54-year-old Melissa Millan as she jogged alone at night on a trail in Simsbury, Connecticut. The case went unsolved for over four years. Overcome with guilt and shame, Will confessed his crime, first to a good female friend of his, and then to some members of his church. Soon after, they walked with him to the police station, providing moral support as he confessed to the crime. Will, now a member of PenPals.Buzz, hopes to meet an understanding

en-us

00:29:02

Inmate Service Companies: Hear Real Reviews from Inmates

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/10/29

Books such as The Best Resource Directory for Prisoners and Inmate Shopper list thousands of resources for prison and jail inmates. Companies around the USA offer services including online research, book and magazine sales, email forwarding, gift purchasing, printing photos of beautiful women, pen pals, blogs for inmates, discount phone calls, correspondence college courses, and much more. But which ones are reliable, and which ones should be avoided? In this podcast episode,

en-us

00:29:02

Inmate Service Companies: Hear Real Reviews from Inmates

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/10/29

Books such as The Best Resource Directory for Prisoners and Inmate Shopper list thousands of resources for prison and jail inmates. Companies around the USA offer services including online research, book and magazine sales, email forwarding, gift purchasing, printing photos of beautiful women, pen pals, blogs for inmates, discount phone calls, correspondence college courses, and much more. But which ones are reliable, and which ones should be avoided? In this podcast episode,

en-us

00:29:01

Solitary Confinement: The Hole Truth

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/10/22

In this week's episode, we interview Kim Romero, the mother of Nick Romero (a prison inmate and PenPals.Buzz member in Shelton, WA). Nick has been locked up in a solitary confinement cell for over eight months...and won't be getting released anytime soon. His story is all too common. Administrators of jails and prisons around the country will tell you that they're using solitary confinement less and less often for punishment. On the surface, this sounds great. But what they

en-us

00:35:42

Brian Dripps: Convicted of Angie Dodge Murder After...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/10/14

Angie Dodge was raped and murdered by Brian Dripps in 1996. The location of the murder? Her bedroom in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The cause of death? Stabbing (and near decapitation). But Brian Dripps wasn't arrested until 2019 -- 23 years after the crime occurred. Another man, Chris Tapp (completely unrelated to the crime) was wrongfully convicted and served 20 years in prison until he was finally exonerated due to advances in DNA testing. Dripps has been interviewed by Dateline, 48

en-us

00:29:16

No Books for You: The Dangerous Realities of Book...

Prison Pen Pal Podcast ·

2024/10/07

Camy Matthay co-founded Wisconsin Books to Prisoners in 2006. For 18 years, she and her team of dedicated volunteers have sent over 70,000 books to prison inmates in Wisconsin. It has been proven that inmates who read while incarcerated are significantly less likely to reoffend. Why, then, would Sarah Cooper, administrator for the Division of Adult Institutions in Wisconsin, suddenly decide to ban inmates from receiving these free books? Even though there's never been one

en-us

61 results

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