TRURO – A Truro woman is speaking out to defend a website that connects federal inmates with everyday citizens.
Julie Young met her fiancée, Steve Mehlenbacher, through Canadian Inmates Connect. Inmates in federal prisons across the country send their profiles to the website and anyone interested in communicating with them can mail a letter to their prison.
In Young’s case, the relationship she began with Mehlenbacher, a convicted bank robber serving time in a B.C. prison, soon blossomed into something more.
“I fell in love with him. He’s like an angel that came into my life.”
The couple began dating in November, got engaged last month and, next week, Young and her two children will move to Agassiz, B.C. to be closer to Mehlenbacher.
Young heard about the website through her ex-husband, who is also in prison, and started sending letters to inmates because she believes they could be turning a new leaf.
“It could do a positive change. They dropped a bunch of the people they used to associate with to move on and better themselves,” she said.
“Why should we judge people that are on that site?”
While Young understands there are dangerous offenders on the website, some of whom are convicted of murder and others of whom are convicted of assault, she says it’s important to look past their criminality.
“I just know he’s making a positive change and moving on with his life than just his current conviction and his past,” she says of Mehlenbacher, who she speaks with about seven times a day.
Mehlenbacher, a born-again Christian, says Canadian Inmates Connect gives inmates a better support system for when they are released. He wants people to look beyond the surface of the website.
“I wanted real people in my life,” he says about why he joined. “I realized I had to be completely honest about everything about me.”
The inmate adds that he knew there was something special with Julie.
“As soon as I got her picture, I got to be honest about it…I’m not one of those guys, this doesn’t happen to me. I saw me and her together,” he said from Mountain Institution in Agassiz.
While he acknowledges that their relationship is atypical, he says it is because people just don’t understand the connection he has with Young.
“They don’t know how close we became through our conversations and our letters. I understand there’s a lot of questions from people saying this is a bad thing or could be a bad thing but they don’t know us,” he said.
“I honestly, sincerely believe she’s my soul mate.”
Mehlenbacher expects to be released from prison in September.
Website creator Melissa, who declined to give her last name, believes in second chances.
“These inmates have lost their freedom. But they haven’t lost their freedom to communication with individuals that choose to communicate with them,” she said.
Inmates pay a fee to have their profiles listed on the website. Canadian Inmates Connect says it is not responsible for the accuracy of the descriptions.
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