Looking for love on the web is pretty much the norm nowadays.
“As we get older in life, it’s hard to meet new people,” Anthony Cecelia said.
“I think that's what a lot of people are setting out to do, including myself through this website. And it works for a lot of people,” Daniel Waller said.
Even still, putting yourself out there can be nerve-wracking and stressful.
“I probably wrote that profile about 10 times over and over, and I'd write it down and I'd get somebody to read it,” Anthony said.
“You want to put things that you know are important to you the type of person you want to attract,” Daniel said.
“I’d like to meet somebody locally from where I’m from. Basically I’m just looking for somebody to talk to,” Randall Simpkins said.
For Randall, Daniel and Anthony, making a real connection, and finding that special someone is particularly tough.
“There's no better feeling in here than somebody reaching out to you and wanting to get to know you,” Daniel said.
All three are behind bars. Daniel and Randall are serving time on drug charges, and Anthony was convicted of credit card theft.
“It gets lonely. I mean I talk to my family. That's about it. But I like hearing from other people,” Randall said.
It was that loneliness that drew these men to a website made specifically for prisoners: Meet-an-inmate.com.
“There was an individual on the camp here and he said that he had met a woman here and that he was actually getting married to her. I couldn't believe it, so he said, ‘well, here's the application,’” Anthony said.
That person was Christopher Yeatts. He met his wife Robyn on the website. They got married at the Indian Creek Correctional center last June.
“He put it in my head that yeah you really can meet people out there that aren't going to judge you for the situation you're in, or look at you different just because you're in prison,” Anthony said.
All three inmates mailed in an application with a money order. Daniel paid little more to get on the “featured ad” section.
“It was either $55 or 110 stamps. You can actually purchase the stamps on the commissary here, and so I purchased them. I would get food and get stamps in return to make sure I had enough,” he said.
A week later, the letters just started pouring in.
“I'm flooded. Different countries, different states -- all kinds of mail,” Daniel said.
He admits at first, he was skeptical.
“It's one thing to meet someone on the street and find out that they were in prison, as opposed to meeting someone in prison. So I was like, well, there's no telling what kind of people I'm gonna attract with this.”
But Anthony believes he’s found true love with a woman who lives in Ohio.
“She really liked my biography, and she wouldn't mind if I wrote her back. So I wrote her back and I would say within two weeks of signing up on the website, I learned so much about her so we became really close really quick,” he said.
Anthony and his new friend talk every day -- on the phone, through letters and a secure messaging service at the prison.
They say their love is real, and that it is possible to fall in love behind bars.
“I get a lot of people that say how are you so happy all the time? I say, man I'm just a happy individual, but I've got love on my side too,” Anthony said.
The inmates hope their stories will give other inmates a sense of hope, and people on the outside, perspective.
“There are good people behind bars. A lot of people can make mistakes, and society has a bad habit of just saying: 'Oh, he's in prison he's a bad person -- stay away from him,'" Daniel said. "And it seems like this website is cushioning that connection between people."
