Prisons ban inmates from having pen pal ads

Searching for a pen pal, Tavares Wright says in his online profile that he's a firm believer in treating others with respect and that the foundation of a good friendship is honesty.

Wright, an Aquarius, lists his marital status as single and his hometown as Lakeland.

He's also upfront about where he is now: death row.

His listing is posted on a Web site called WriteAPrisoner.com. By posting his profile, Wright, 27, broke a rule. Florida officials have banned inmates from having the Match.com-style listings, saying prisoners just create problems for their outside-the-pen pals.

Other states - Missouri, Montana, Indiana and Pennsylvania - have similar restrictions. Now lawsuits in Florida and elsewhere say the bans are unfair and violate First Amendment rights.

"The public knows when they're writing to these people that they're prisoners," said Randall Berg Jr., a lawyer representing two pen pal groups - including Florida-based WriteAPrisoner.com - that have sued in the state. "Nobody is being duped here."

WriteAPrisoner.com president and owner Adam Lovell says the bulk of the people who use his site to write to inmates are from religious groups, military people stationed overseas and others affected by the prison. Fraud isn't as widespread as Florida corrections officials suggest, he said.

But the Florida Department of Corrections doesn't want to take any chances. In 2003, the department changed its policy to prohibit inmates from advertising for pen pals or getting mail from pen pal groups. Inmates who continue to advertise can have privileges such as visitation or phone calls revoked.

The department made the change after receiving complaints from people who had been taken advantage of and from victims and their families who saw prisoners' ads, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

"We're doing it to protect the public," Plessinger said. "Inmates can have pen pals - they just can't solicit for pen pals."

Wright, who's incarcerated at Florida State Prison, says in his online posting he's just looking for a friend and hopes whoever is reading his profile is smiling.

"I look forward to keeping a smile upon your face as our friendship grows," he says.

Wright was sentenced to die four years ago for his role in the execution-style shooting deaths of two cousins who were abducted from a Lakeland parking lot as they headed for a night of bowling.

The cousins were carjacked by Wright and his co-defendant, Samuel Lee Pitts, outside a Lakeland Winn-Dixie supermarket, authorities say. The victims were driven to a remote Polk City citrus grove and were shot from behind - three times each - as they stood by side by side, investigators say.

During his sentencing, Wright maintained his innocence. He repeated that on his WriteAPrisoner.com profile.

"I have had a bumpy lifestyle, but I am not a murderer," he says.

Other Florida inmates are also ignoring the ban and listing themselves anyway. The inmates communicate with the sites by sending letters in the mail, and sometimes family members pay the fees for the sites, about $40 a year for WriteAPrisoner.com and other sites.

Another one of those prisoners is Shanna Jane West of Tampa, who says she's "down, but definitely not out" and is "sexy, single and sweet." She said she's looking for a "man of any age with heart and soul." That man must also be sincere and able to make her smile, she writes.

West pleaded guilty in November 2002 to causing a wreck two years earlier that killed Barbara Mercer, a 54-year-old Dade City mother, wife and Habitat for Humanity volunteer. West was high on the illegal drug gamma hydroxy butyrate, known as GHB, and driving with a suspended license when her Chevrolet Cavalier crossed the centerline of U.S. 41, T-boning a car in which Mercer was a passenger.

Less than 12 hours before, West was in a Hillsborough County jail on a drunken driving charge.

West is scheduled to be released from prison Aug. 30, 2016.