An Australian woman is awaiting her visa so she can relocate to the US and be with her new husband, who she met when she wrote to him behind bars.
Chloe, from Melbourne, was 18 when she began browsing the website Write a Prisoner in 2020 during Covid lockdowns after she saw videos on TikTok from people who had tried it.
Her intention was only to relieve some boredom as she was in a relationship at that point and said she wasnt worried about any danger because her pen pals were behind bars, on the other side of the ocean and would be refused entry to Australia.
Her family werent as laid back about about her pen pal arrangement, with one exclaiming oh my gosh Chloe, so you can get murdered? when she told them.
But Chloe persisted and her emails with a prisoner named Rondell from Cleveland progressed to phone calls and then her travelling to meet him in jail.
I found my husband, my life partner, Chloe told The Feed on SBS.
The now 23-year-old married Rondell while on her most recent trip to the states and is now arranging to relocate there permanently.
Rondell had been in jail for seven years for involuntary manslaughter when Chloe first wrote to him, she said she specifically stayed away from inmates whose crimes were against women and children.
Chloe said she was writing to prisoner pen-pals in the United States out of boredom during Covid lockdowns in Melbourne
Rondell was 19 and had been arguing with a 17-year-old when his friend pulled out a gun and shot him, according to news reports from 2013.
They both fled the scene and were later arrested. Rondell was sentenced to 14 years and his friend is serving a much longer term for murder.
Chloe said she took Rondell at face value rather than judging him on his past.
We got into really deep conversations really quickly, she said.
We would talk about all different types of topics, what we want to do with ourselves, our goals, aspirations, our views on certain things in life, politics, global issues, things I didnt feel like I could talk to anyone else about.
The pair split for a while during their three years of talking but then reconnected after realising they missed each other.
Rondell is now released after serving 11 years.
Years later she has married her prison pen-pal and is waiting for a US visa but others have warned her story could have gone very differently
Another woman who spoke to SBS with the alias Sam told a very different story of her experience writing to an Australian prisoner.
She said the man charmed her and told her that he was a patched member of bikie gang and she was flattered receiving his letters.
Upon his release she met him but he quickly disappeared and then contacted her again when he needed money.
That progressed to taking her phone, locking her in her house, threatening violence and hitting her.
He has since been rearrested with police telling Sam he was never a member of a bikie gang and he had previously been jailed for domestic abuse offences.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.