[Bookstoprisoners] Re: BooksToPrisoners Digest, Vol 26, Issue 5

[Niloofar Shambayati]

Thanks for your feedback and interest, April,

I've been grappling with the same dilemma myself and can't suggest a 
satisfactory solution.  So far, because btp volunteers haven't 
systematically accepted to become pen pals, we haven't experienced any 
problem but the potential is there.  On the other hand, I think any 
communication with prison population, whether guards or inmates, has to be 
made via a P.O. box address which is  not associated with btp.  No last name 
or private home address should be given---a sensible rule that I myself have 
not followed. In principle,  I don't find it sensible for a young woman to 
become a pen pal to an inmate because it's very easy for them to start 
fantasizing.  Faking vital statistics would be unfair to them too since it 
would make it very hard to become a sincere pen pal.
However, a program within AIR would be a nice vehicle for this purpose and 
I'm sure that  SGA can tell you whether such a program would be acceptable 
to the Univ. or not.  A potential problem that needs to be considered 
thoroughly  is that the news of the availability of such services can spread 
rapidly and demands for pen pals might overwhelm your volunteers.  Remember 
that  inmates would always have more free time than any  pen pal in the 
outside community.    What couple of us or volunteers at AIR can do is to 
run a Google search to see whether such services exist and if so to learn 
about their experiences.  Locally,  AIR or another group can  contact senior 
citizen groups and retirement  housing offices  and sell the idea to them 
and work as a liaison between inmates and volunteers.   These are some 
random thoughts and I hope others would get involved in the discussion and 
brainstorm ideas.  Let me know what you think.

Niloofar
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <adiaz25 at uiuc.edu>
To: <bookstoprisoners at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 1:55 PM
Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Re: BooksToPrisoners Digest, Vol 26, Issue 5


> Niloofar-- 
> It sounds like a neat idea, but I don't know how we would go about it 
> without making it seem as though we were providing pen pal services (and 
> lots of inmates ask about them).  Also, I was thinking that I might be 
> interested in it, but where would the letters he would send go?  Would he 
> send them to BTP (thus making it seem all the more like BTP is a pen pal 
> service), or would I have to give him my home address?  Personally, I 
> wouldn't want to give away my home address to an inmate, and if I were to 
> be someone's pen pal, I would probably use a fake name and pretend to be a 
> male.  Are there perhaps any established inmate pen pal programs to which 
> we can refer people who ask about pen pals?  If not, perhaps the RSO Noah 
> and I started last spring (Association for Inmate Rights) might be 
> interested in establishing a program, but I'm still unsure of the 
> logistics.
>
> -April
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:00:05 -0500 (CDT)
>>From: bookstoprisoners-request at lists.chambana.net
>>Subject: BooksToPrisoners Digest, Vol 26, Issue 5
>>To: bookstoprisoners at lists.chambana.net
>>
>>Send BooksToPrisoners mailing list submissions to
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>>
>>Today's Topics:
>>
>>   1. a pen pal? (Niloofar Shambayati)
>>   2. Monday 7/9, downtown jail (eportnoy at uiuc.edu)
>>   3. Conference Planning Meeting Tomorrow! (Suzanne Linder)
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 1
>>Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 15:25:03 -0500
>>From: "Niloofar Shambayati" <Nilu at insightbb.com>
>>Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] a pen pal?
>>To: <bookstoprisoners at lists.chambana.net>
>>Message-ID: <003e01c7c267$3b5cdc70$6401a8c0 at SalehiFamily>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>>Hello All,
>>
>>One of the inmates at Menard has been asking whether any of us would like 
>>to correspond with him on a regular basis.  He's a native of Urbana and 
>>has been locked up since 1998.  Please contact me if you're  potentially 
>>interested.   I can pass on the letter and you can make a final decision. 
>>He's also looking for a lawyer who'd be willing to represent him in a 
>>court of appeal on a pro bono basis.  Of course, we need to be very 
>>careful not to give the impression that btp also provides these other 
>>sevices and info. but I think it should be O.K.  if individuals deside to 
>>help in other ways, outside the framework of btp. Any thoughts?
>>
>>Niloofar
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>>Message: 2
>>Date: Mon,  9 Jul 2007 21:09:09 -0500 (CDT)
>>From: <eportnoy at uiuc.edu>
>>Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Monday 7/9, downtown jail
>>To: b2p <Bookstoprisoners at lists.chambana.net>
>>Message-ID: <20070709210909.ASR94293 at expms1.cites.uiuc.edu>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>>     Noel and I saw at least 72 inmates -- maybe a few more,
>>it was hectic at times.
>>Requests: for Beth Tucker, Maximum Ride and/or School's Out,
>>     by James Patterson
>>for Tovoris Pye, Coldest Winter Ever
>>for Darren Mosley, The Color Purple
>>for Will Wolm, Epicenter by Joel Rosenburg
>>
>>                    --  Esther Portnoy
>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 3
>>Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:21:03 -0500
>>From: "Suzanne Linder" <suzanne.linder at gmail.com>
>>Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Conference Planning Meeting Tomorrow!
>>To: "bookstoprisoners at lists.chambana.net"
>> <bookstoprisoners at books2prisoners.org>
>>Message-ID:
>> <3f0a48830707100721i1768f8e1g210ff7d89d4dc8ec at mail.gmail.com>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>>Hello all--
>>
>>We are having another conference planning meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, 
>>night
>>at 7 PM at Suzanne & Jay's house.  I will make some kind of vegan cookie
>>treat and even if you haven't been to one of these planning meetings 
>>before,
>>please consider joining us.  We can definitely use your help!
>>
>>Suzanne
>>
>>our house is located at 6 Willowbrook Ct in Champaign.  Willowbrook is on
>>the south side of Windsor, the third cul-de-sac west of Neil.  There are
>>several buses that go down Fox Drive which is directly across from us. 
>>Call
>>if you need more information, 721-7516.
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>>End of BooksToPrisoners Digest, Vol 26, Issue 5
>>***********************************************
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