Prison Pen Pal Podcast

As a young boy, Christian LaFargo was introducted to the violent El Monte Flores EMF gang, affiliated with the Mexican Mafia, in Southern California. Forced to grow up with an incarcerated father, EMF was all he ever knew. "It's just the culture there," LaFargo said. Chris, better known in EMF as Bossy -- pled guilty to multiple charges, including attempted murder, and was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison.

Now more than halfway through his sentence, this man, age 39, has done the unthinkable. He has completely transformed his attitude, his life, his behavior, and his...

When a prison inmate spends their hard-earned money for a pen pal profile, it should be considered an investment -- into their lives, their happiness, and their future. But what actually makes a profile good or bad? In this episode, Big Steve and Daisy share proven tips and techniques to help incarcerated men and women write a profile that will catch a reader's attention and get results. The tips shared in this episode could make all the difference between a profile that gets zero responses (or hits, as they're called) or a profile that gets dozens of letters, emails...

Jimmy Tench, convicted of murdering his mother, Mary Tench, and sentenced to Death Row in Ohio, recently appeared on Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks (Season 2, Episode 4: He Murdered My Mother). Now, Jimmy (or James Tench, as he's listed in the Ohio DOC) speaks to us from a telephone in his prison cell. During the interview, he goes into more depth about how he was portrayed on Evil Lives Here and mentions several topics which weren't discussed on the TV show, such as his negative experiences with his attorneys, what positive things he has gained from his time on...

On the evening of July 17, 2024, Bianca, from the UK, was browsing inmate profiles on PenPals.Buzz and was attracted to Armon Irons, an American prisoner with tattooed hands. Minutes later, she sent him this email:

Good evening Armon, Sending you lots of love from across the pond. Loved your profile. Never done this before. I am a virgin! If you would like me to write to you I can. Anyhow, I will keep this short and sweet like me! Tally Ho Captain.

At the time, nobody would have guessed that those 47 words sent via a...

The Prison Pen Pal Podcast explores all aspects of prison inmates and their pen pals. Thinking of writing a prisoner? Already have a loved one who is incarcerated? Curious about why someone would write a letter to an inmate? Or, maybe you just want to learn about an entirely new way of making friends. You'll hear from the host, Big Steve, as he helps to humanize inmates and demonstrates the value in writing a pen pal. This is true crime at its best. Enjoy our two-minute trailer describing this groundbreaking podcast.

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 around due process laws) in St. Peter, for well over a decade. This place is a real dark stain on the community, yet Alfson...

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 Scams and Prison Hustles. Kevin used to be a scammer from behind bars, but once he met...

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 projects. But when we heard about her newest accomplishment, a prison cookbook...

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 incarcerated.

After a lot of thinking and a little research, we now know the answer...

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 provide a wealth of evidence to support their claims. But are either of them telling the truth? You...

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 nurse from South Dakota found happiness with a prison inmate in Washington state. We wish them all the best for 2025 and beyond.

Later in the episode, we...

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 connection would stay strictly platonic. Since she worked in the cannabis industry, she was well...

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 and open-minded pen pal who would be willing to write him letters and emails. He loves...

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, we interview Illinois inmate, Daniel Patrykus. Daniel's blog, The Best Inmate Service Companies, details some of his go-to companies for inmate services. He talks with us in...

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 won't tell you is that over 125,000 men and women are currently locked up in isolation and segregation cells...

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 hours, and 20/20, but claims that due to editing, he was never able to tell his true story. Until now, that is. Join PenPals.Buzz...

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 instance of contraband entering any of Wisconsin's 20 state prisons from this non-profit group, Cooper believes that bad actors could potentially send drugs into the facility by using...

Is your prison pen pal genuine, or could he or she be manipulating you for money and commissary? This week, we're joined by Chris from Colorado. Now retired, Chris worked inside of a correctional facility for over 17 years and has some stories to share. You may or may not agree with his opinions about inmates (or offenders as he calls them) but his cautionary tale may prove beneficial to some. Later in the show, we chat with two inmates (and members of PenPals.Buzz). Get to know Terry Spencer from Umatilla, Oregon, and Kristopher Douglas from Tucson, Arizona.

Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, you'll see and hear people asserting that all inmates are scum, that inmates deserve to rot and die in prison. Big Steve disagrees, reasoning that with 2.3 million incarcerated men and women in America, it's impossible to put them all into a tiny little box labeled "SCUM". While some inmates (like the ones depicted in movies) have committed heinous crimes and may be where they need to be, our mission is to share with the world some more uplifting stories of prison inmates. Redemption is possible. Thousands, just like our guest on this week's...

Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew, Nathan Myers, were released from prison in 2019 after 43 years of being wrongfully convicted of murder. Already suffering from early onset dementia, Williams wasn't really able to celebrate his release, nor to enjoy his freedom before his death earlier this year. He was given close to 2 million dollars, but no amount of money could possibly be worth time spent on death row, and an entire lifetime in prison. Now, 48 years after Williams' wrongful conviction in 1976, his son, Clifford Walker, is reliving in his father's footsteps. Walker is more than halfway through a 35-year sentence...

Over the course of three months in 2015, PenPals.Buzz member Trent Bouhdida sold undercover officer Ronald Elcock (call me Kev) a total of one ounce of marijuana. Eight months later, he was arrested by two U.S. Marshalls, while attempting to drive his wife (who had recently given birth) to a job interview. He never made it to the job interview, but he did make it to the county jail. And after two mistrials, and a relentless prosecution, Arizona prosecutors finally found a jury who would convict him. Bouhdida received over 16 years in state prison for selling what is...

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...

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...

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...

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...