I was watching an episode of VH1’s Mob Wives last night and boy was it their best episode, especially if you enjoy a good “cat fight!” Lots of hair pulling, down on the floor scrambling around that kept my attention. Aside from that, there was the usual: friends gossiping behind each other’s back that inevitably leads to drama, conflict, name calling and fisticuffs. However, in last night’s episode, one of the housewives, Renee Graziano, plugs her new business enterprise called Jail Mail Inc.
Apparently, Renee has visited many a prison and written many letters to inmates. She has decided to pursue this as a business venture by creating a website called Jail Mail Inc., with the slogan “we’re not incorporated, we’re incarcerated.” Catchy? This website is for those who know people in prison and want to send then an e-card every month. If you subscribe and purchase a 12 month package, the prisoner of your choice will be sent various e-cards, for holidays and birthdays etc., automatically on a monthly basis. She even saw a web designer about this and told him how she wants it to look. Black background with “prisoners” popping out when they hear the words “mail call.”
Personally, I would have never come up with this idea in a million years. I’m surprised Hallmark hasn’t. They could have had a section of cards for prisoners long ago. It’s been an overlooked population who are characterized as looking forward to mail because they want to feel people still think about them and care about them while they are away. Now Renee has corner the market on this idea! And she even has a popular television show to promote her new enterprise.
What I am trying to envision is how prisons supply access to computers to prisoners and WHY? Aren’t they there to be punished for crimes? Or is it a mini vacation where you watch television, go online, listen to music, workout and read? On Mob Wives, the incarcerated husbands seem to be able to make phone calls to their wives any time they choose and more than once a day. They are even allowed to receive packages with snacks and pictures. This does not fit the image I have in my head of what jail is supposed to be like. Now, thanks to Renee, they can get e-cards filled with good wishes, love and kisses.
Some days, you wake up and you think you’ve seen and heard everything, and then, you learn you haven’t.
First of all, the calls that are made from jail on the show say that they are prepaid calls most calls that often will mention a charge. This means they payed for these calls honey. Second of all, the website is for real cards to be sent not ecards. You just pick the cards online. Third, I'm sorry that prisons aren't the way you pictured with people being tortured beyond their wits because of a crime as if they were animals instead of people. How about this, they lost their priveleges to be around their families. They lost their privileges to spending time with friends, being free to go anywhere they want, being able to be around the places they love and watching their families suffer without them from behind bars. I have never been in prison before but I know people who were in prison for years for something they barely realized they were a part of when they were younger. I don't care if they did something they knew about that was horrible. We are not Gods, therefore we should treat other people as if they are our equals not scum on the bottom of our shoe. There are murderers in prison and that is horrible but the majority of people in prison were just caught in the heat of the moment of stupidity. Some people are in prison for trying to take care of their families in an illegal way because they could not find a job (and don't say they could have found one because sometimes you live in an area where finding a minimum wage job can be very compettitive due to high population concentration especially if you have lower education or poor verbal skills which can definitely be due to being a product of your environment and low opportunities). Open your eyes honey and see that because someone is in prison doesn't mean they all need to be treated like serial killers. Oh and by the way, unless you want people in prisons to come out uneducated and unprepared, I would suggest you not worry about them having computers. That is a way for them to become educated and get some schooling, not to get on facebook and play games. They have churches so they can gain a spiritual connection. They have everything in prison that a person needs to improve their lives and make a change for the better. Let the government handle this they have thought it through way more than you have (obviously).
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments, you obviously know a lot more about this subject than I do. I was merely sharing my thoughts and opinions, which is why I started to blog.
ReplyDeleteLmao the first commentor obviously has a handful of friends/family in prison; why so angry? There's a way to getting a point across without being so harsh. I've written friends/family in jail over the yrs & I to am shocked when I learn they have PC access - the normal person would be shocked. Excuses are made in the first comment about why people are in prison but the fact remains that they were busted for a crime, rather small or large, they participated in a crime. Should they be treated like animals, no but I don't know if agree with them having all of the same access we free world folks have.
ReplyDelete@Nina - generally persons in jail may get pictures and mail. As Drita mentioned, certain pics can be sent back if they do not meet the guidelines of proper mailings. As far as phone calls, I know some jails allow u to make 2 calls a day or so - I guess it depends on where you are. Renee's idea interested me, which is how I found your post. Honestly, I caught the part of her meeting w/ the designer before watching again & seeing what the company was truly about. I thought it was a site where persons in the free world could find random inmates & write them. I enjoy handwriting so I searched more of the site - info u provided was helpful :)
@cathrynmarie -Actually I had one friend and a ex-stepdad who went to prison. Other than that, I've watched lots of prison shows. No need to bash me because of my passion honey. It doesn't make your point any stronger. Some people like you choose ignorance. They have restrictions on what they can access on those computers and like I said in my first comment most use the computers to educate themselves so that they are able to look marketable and don't fall into a jobless life of crime again. But aparently you like for criminals to be let back in our neighborhoods in the harshest of positions so they fall back in cycles they were in before. At least Nina realized it was possible that some things can actually make since if you look at it from another light and @nina I appreciate that and I apologize for the passion in the subject it comes off strong because I'm used to people like cathryn who don't budge because they think "they should have thought about that" is the perfect excuse to deprive others of their opportunities. Unfortunate for inmates, there are people like you who don't support a change in lifestyle. I know it was the wonderful prison system that caused my ex-stepdad to come out with an education better than when he went in and he was able to get a job immediately because of how much more he knew in the field (electricial). Thank God unsensible and cold people like you don't make the decisions because he probably wouldn't have gotten a job when he got out with out what he had under his belt (as people were being laid off constantly because of budget and I know this because my mom is an electrician also and she would tell me she worried every day because of how much she makes) and he probably would have fallen back into his old ways. So aparently you have to experience with how it works and you WOULDN'T appreciate a system like that. Sometimes people stick in their ways with the ole "they should have thought about that before they committed the crime" but how about if the system changed to the way you want it to be? What would be said when the relapse rate of prisoners increases and causes the crime rates to increase? Probably something along the lines of " you should have thought about that before you took away their opportunities."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess she deleted her comment right after she posted it.
ReplyDeleteThere are different ways to look at things, I feel that someone who actually has experience has a lot more insight into a situation than someone who doesn't. Opinions aren't right or worng, they just are. However, if one's opinion is based on experience it carries more weight with me. Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective Jessica.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-husband is in prison and yes he can make calls anytime he wants prior to "lights out". I pay $3.50 for each 15 minute phone call. He has a TV that he purchased from the "commissary" and can get cable on it. He can get books and music. He can buy food items, shoes, jeans, etc. with money that is sent to him. He does work inside the prison for 8 hours a day for about $.08 per hour. What he doesn't have........his son from the age of 6 to 16.
ReplyDeleteCathrynmarie thanks for your comments. I understand that the new site for Jail Mail Inc will be up and running soon at www.jailmailinc.com as per Renee's tweet.
ReplyDeleteKobegrace, it's really a sad situation that your son will be missing out on so much time with his father. The women on Mob Wives often refer to that very same thing. Their children are being raised without their fathers.