Trixi, my partner, says you don't trust anyone. "It can be the world of difference if they survive in prison or not," said Myrlin. The letters provide a way for inmates to let out thoughts they would otherwise have to keep to themselves. Gay inmates, Myrlin said, have no one with whom they can share their feelings, an emotionally straining experience. The two became friends and over the years, a romantic relationship grew. In 2004, Myrlin chose to write to a trans inmate named Trixi, who lived in a prison in California. Over the years, Myrlin has corresponded with many inmates, and with the number growing, he said it is sometimes difficult to juggle. "So, I was writing to people in RFD magazine when it used to be published in there, and I found some amazing pen friends who were inmates who helped me through some really tough times in my own life, when I needed someone to talk to." "I've known a lot of people who've been friends of mine who have gone to prison for various reasons, and when I got started in this, it was more that I was looking for friends," said Myrlin. The column is an outlet for inmates to communicate and share talents as they are able to send in material such as advertisements for pen pals, poems, short stories and artwork. Myrlin also assembles the Prison Pages column featured in RFD magazine.
"A lot of times I feel some people, they'll say to me, 'We know you can't guarantee us any results, but at least you give us hope that we might be able to find someone to write to and become friends with.'" "It's mushroomed under my watch because I respond to everybody, and I try to do a good job," said Myrlin. The majority of the men writing in to participate are inmates rather than men outside prison, which makes Myrlin wonder if the gay community cares about inmates and inmate issues. With his database of about 1,600 prisons, he makes a list of all prisoners who would like to have correspondence and distributes the list to subscribers who request it. Since 2002, he has been receiving letters from inmates requesting pen pals. Myrlin is the editor for Brothers Behind Bars. The magazine aims to promote community-building and networking, among other things. Ditching technology and the email that goes with it, men reach for pen and paper to write letters to their pen pals behind prison bars.īrothers Behind Bars is a letter-writing campaign run though RFD (Radical Faerie Digest) magazine, a national quarterly publication geared toward gay, bisexual and transgender men,ĭating back to 1974, RFD is a reader-written journal, focused on country living and alternative lifestyles.