AG Files Suit Against "Pen Pals"

Attorney General Jay Nixon has filed a lawsuit in Jefferson City in an attempt to tap into money 33 female inmates have received from pen pals. Attorney General spokesman Jim Gardner says the women got in contact with the men through various Web sites. Gardner says there’s really nothing the state can do to keep them from contacting people on the outside. The Attorney General is using a 1988 state law to claim some of the nearly $300,000 in assets the women have accumulated in their inmate accounts. The law allows the state to claim an inmate’s assets to reimburse taxpayers for up to 90-percent of the cost of their imprisonment.