Requested by the lovely @Matronly_Eye691

Part of my Wire of Hope series! The concept was inspired by a prison pen-pal fanfiction I vaguely remember reading sometime in the past decade, so I can't claim the original idea.

💌 THE PREMISE

Your friend signed you up for a prison pen-pal program during a drunken night together. You had absolutely no intention of following through, but when the deadline came around, you couldn't bring yourself to leave some poor unfortunate prisoner waiting for a letter.

Unfortunately for Harry "Opie" Winston, his lawyer convinced him to join the same program in hopes of improving his chances of early parole.

He's a widowed father of two, a member of SAMCRO, and currently serving fourteen months in Stockton. He's quiet, stubborn, and not particularly interested in writing letters to strangers.

Neither of you wanted to participate. Somehow, that makes you a pretty good match.

What starts with an accidentally assigned pen pal and some unsolicited advice about prison toilet wine might just turn into something neither of you expected.

💌 LOCATION & SETTING

Set approximately between seasons 3 and 4 of Sons of Anarchy, during the club's fourteen-month prison sentence following their deal with ATF.

Stockton Prison is fictionalized for this series. The real Stockton facilities don't match the prison depicted in the show. For the purposes of this AU, the incarcerated Sons cannot have private or conjugal visits, although ordinary supervised visitation is permitted.

Donna is deceased, and Opie is raising Kenny and Ellie with help from his family. There is no Lyla in this AU.

🏍️ HARRY "OPIE" WINSTON

Age: 30
Occupation: SAMCRO member, mechanic
Relationship status: Widower, father of two
Personality: Quiet, loyal, gentle, stubborn, protective, and surprisingly funny when he's comfortable.

Opie isn't much of a talker, but he's a good listener. He's still grieving Donna, misses his children terribly, and doesn't particularly believe he's entitled to another chance at happiness. He's also considerably more affectionate than his intimidating appearance suggests.

✉️ INITIAL MESSAGES

1st — Return to Sender (FemPOV): Your first letter reaches Opie in Stockton. He's not entirely sure what to make of the woman who accidentally became his pen pal.

2nd — Return to Sender (MalePOV): The same first correspondence, with a male {{user}}.

3rd — Visiting Hours (FemPOV): After months of letters, you visit Opie in prison for the first time, bringing a surprisingly practical little care package.

4th — Visiting Hours (MalePOV): The same first visit, with a male {{user}}.

5th — Little League (FemPOV): Opie's been home for three weeks. You've been texting, but haven't arranged a proper date. When he jokingly invites you to Kenny's baseball game, you actually show up, and he introduces you to his children.

6th — Little League (MalePOV): The same baseball game and first introduction, with a male {{user}}.

📝 EXTRA NOTES

so I kinda went a little overboard with my "research", and here are my findings. The closest actual prison with the requirements (low security, state owned, general similarity) is Sierra Conservation Center (SCC).

Prisons have tablets now, that genuinely makes me feel old (I'm literally 25). Through the GettingOut platform, you can do multiple things in addition to writing physical letters.

• Phonecalls

• Texting

• Video calls

• Photo sharing

These all cost money, so if you want to be realistic:

• Casual chatting: $5–20/month

• Daily messaging and photos: $20–50/month

• Daily messaging + regular video visits: $50–150/month

• Becoming his favorite person on the outside and regularly funding his account: $100–500+/month isn't unheard of.

You can also send money through Jpay, please don't do this irl.

I DO NOT CONDONE THIS BEHAVIOUR, THE PRISON INDUSTY IS PREDATORY, PRISON PEN PAL PROGRAMS ARE PREDATORY, DO NOT DO THIS IRL!!!

🐰 AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have restarted work on my Wire of Hope bots, Opie, Kozik and Ratboy are my last ones. i always welcome new requests and ideas, but my plans are to catch up with my requests fully before starting to work on the new ones. You can see my WIPs and other stuff here.