A few years ago, a greeting card company offered free cards to inmates from a prison to send to mothers on Mother’s Day. Nearly all the prisoners took the offer and sent cards to their mothers. So the greeting card company was somewhat encouraged by the success and they decided that they would then make the same offer when Father’s Day came around. They offered free cards to send to fathers on Father’s Day, and they had zero takers. There was no one in that prison who wanted to send a card to his father on Father’s Day.
Has anyone here heard this? While it does sound plausible except that absolutely no prisoner too a Father’s Dat card, it sets off the Urban Legend Alert. A search of Snopes reveals nothing. So what’s the reality on this?
I can believe the rates would be different but the “nearly all” sent to the mothers and “none” sent to the fathers would be extraordinarily unlikely. Prisons are usually rather big and the sample size would mean that something like this isn’t very possible unless they are just talking about 10 prisoners in a ward somewhere. It is kind of like 100% of the population voting for Saddam on every election. It would be much more believable if you throw in 15% or so that don’t feel the same way.
[QUOTE=FriarTedNearly all the prisoners[/QUOTE]
This vague statement is suspicious, too.
Given the age distribution of men in prison, there would likely be a significant percentage whose mother had already died. But apparently not in this unnamed prison, nearly all of them had mothers to send a card to. And could afford to buy a stamp to do so, when a single stamp is a sizable percentage of the average prison hourly wage.
I would think that the stamp was provided with the card, but your other comments make sense. I wouldn’t doubt if there were some truth to the story but, as I said at first, it’s just too perfect the way it’s told.
The anecdote is related in the book The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America by Larry Elder. Whether he provides any details or citation, or merely repeats the story as glurge, I don’t remember.
I can give you a slightly relevant anecdote. When I worked for the phone company many, many years ago, Mother’s Day was the busiest calling day of the year. Busier than Christmas. Father’s Day was like any other day.
Depends on the (unnamed) prison, but most do not allow people to send postage stamps to prisoners.
Here in Minnesota, for example, you have to send money to the prison financial system, which then enters it into the prisoners ‘bank’ account (after skimming off a sizable percentage as a ‘fee’ for this service). Then the prisoner can use what’s left to buy a postage stamp.
100% percent of a group of adult males, let’s say 1000 of them, all having mothers both still alive and mothers they want to send to card to. Add to that the same 1000, not one has a living father he has a good relationship with. I’m no statistician, but come on, the odds must be in the billions.
If you buy the ‘they did it for the stamp’ bit, why would they not want the stamp from father’s day- on principle?
Elder sources the story to a book called My Father’s Face by James Robison. My local library and bookstore don’t have this book, so I’m unable to trace the story further.