Kanye's 'Love Lockdown' the new theme song for prison dating sites?

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Internet dating is very big business...so are prisons...the two may be strange bedfellows, but the numbers prove that those who are running the sites are laughing all the way to the bank.

Whether it's a genuine connection, a case of someone who wants to meet someone who can't run away, or  just  morbid curiosity, the number of people who are flocking to these sites (most of whom are women) is staggering.

Mary Whittenburg of The Christian Science Monitor addresses many of the theories behind the boom in business for prison dating sites, but be that as it may, the whole idea has left some people scratching their heads. Most of us are having trouble finding someone to return our phone calls or agree to a second date, but people like serial pedophile and murderer, John Wayne Gacy and serial murderer Ted Bundy both married women they'd corresponded with before their executions. Some of the prisoners, such as Susan Smith are doing better in prison than they were in the free world.

As a matter of fact, Susan Smith is one of the most popular prisoners on writeaprisoner.com where she has her pick of men - to the tune of over 1 million emails and letters - who are lining up online to be her beau. Apparently locking your children in a car, driving them into a lake and killing them isn't a deterrent for some men...go figure.

You've also got women who believe that some of these men, many of whom were convicted of rape and murder, are innocent, so they don't just give their heart and their time to their internet sweetie, they send lots and lots of money. Yeah, that's a healthy relationship. One might think that death row would be a deal breaker, but many of these sites have pages of testimonials from soon-to-be- released convicts who've found love to death-row inmates who say letter-writing has given them a way to come to peace with dying.

Mary mentions that these 'Penpal sites make their money by charging inmates (roughly $40 to $75) to post their ads and print and forward any responses, or by charging penpals (usually less than $10) for inmate addresses. Few US prisoners are allowed access to e-mail or the internet, so most never see their listings.'

The number of sites is growing as fast as the prisons themselves with sites like prisonpenpals.com , jailbabes.com , jaildudes.com, inmate.com,  ladiesofthepen.com, , Cellblockmail.com, and inmatesforyou.com.

Kanye West just sang his new song Love Lockdown at the Paramore Rock the MTV Awards. It would make a great theme song for these prison dating sites. Not so sure he'd be into that, though.

Nothin' for nothin' but if pickins are so slim that you're hunting hotties in prison, I'd say that being lonely is the least of your worries.

Hey, on the bright side, it would be pretty impressive to tell your family over Thanksgiving that you're dating Charlie Manson as you ask someone to pass the mashed potatoes.