The Origin of Pen Pals: Learn How it All Started

06/04/24 • 30 min

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 inmate spotlight will focus on a former college professor who has been incarcerated since 1981. If you want to become his pen friend, we'll tell you how.

Previous Episode

High-Profile Prison Inmates: Do They Deserve to be Treated like Human Beings?

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 is better known as the "Yuma Killer," and he was sentenced to 50 years. Learn more about their backgrounds, their life stories, their crimes, and decide for yourself if either of them would make a good pen pal for you.

Next Episode

Civil Commitment: Terrifying Policy that Pretends Prisoners are Patients

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 the justification most judges need to certify that being locked away, often for one's entire life, against their will and without any jury trial, is really just mental health treatment. How does this happen? In short, a prison clinician (often with a questionable degree from an online college) makes an assessment that an inmate has a mental illness and might pose a risk to society if he or she is released. Using unreliable "assessments," as they're called, prison clinicians around the USA have recommended Civil Commitments for over 10,000 men and women, many of whom have never been arrested for any crime. And what's worse, they're often treated far worse than actual inmates who committed actual crimes and are serving legal sentences. In this week's episode, PenPals.Buzz founder Big Steve interviews Mr. Alverson about his 25+ years' experience as a "client." He also speaks with Jermy Walker, an Idaho prison inmate who works as a companion to the 64 (innocent) Civil Commitment men currently housed in solitary confinement at Idaho's maximum security prison. We'll share some contact info so that you can become pen pals with some of these captives. A letter from you might be just what they need to make it through another day.