Prison Dating Sites Are Under Threat

Timothy McManus says he was just looking to offer some legal research in 2012 when he wrote to Donna, a woman serving a 20-year sentence at a state prison in Georgia. McManus, who’d finished two decades in a Texas prison earlier that year, knew the power of hearing his name at mail call. Much of what got him through that time, he says, was his correspondence with more than 70 people through websites including writeaprisoner.com, meet-an-inmate.com, and paperdollspenpals.com.

After a year and a half of corresponding with Donna, the relationship became romantic. “We certainly understand each other’s lives,” he says. “To be honest, since I’ve been out, it’s not impossible, but difficult, to relate to women outside who don’t understand. There’s a connection with Donna.”