DeAnna, Amanda, Lexi, and Rachael have one thing in common: they have all ‘dated’ prisoners they started writing to after finding them online. The women, who hail from across the US and are of a variety of ages, backgrounds and circumstances, all say that what started as pen pal friendships turned into romantic relationships that unexpectedly left them powerless to resist the men.

One is a 49-year-old mother-of-three who works for the Department of Justice and wrote to a prisoner for 11 years; another is a 21-year-old woman, who works with people who are developmentally disabled and is engaged to a man she says is innocent of the child sex conviction that saw him sentenced to at least 28 years behind bars; another married her ‘soulmate’ during a prison ceremony before she left her job and family to live with him under house arrest less than a year after they first communicated with each other.

There has been an increase over the past two decades in pen pal websites where inmates can create a profile seeking out friendships from those living on the outside of prison walls. An online search reveals pages of dedicated websites. Since being arrested for killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in March, suspect Nikolas Cruz has received dozens of love letters from admirers and women who want to date him, it was recently reported.

An in-depth 2015 study of 90 inmates and their pen pal friends by the University of Warwick in the UK found having ‘something as simple as a pen pal relationship can lead to tangible benefits for prisoners’, increasing their chances of successful rehabilitation. It did not investigate romantic relationships between the two.

Something that might’ve once been taboo is not so much anymore, according to the women who spoke to DailyMail.com about their experiences and whose families, they say, mostly approve of their relationships. The fascination with their situations remains. Reality show Love After Lockup, which follows women engaged to prisoners as they try to marry, is mid-way through its first series on WEtv and has already been commissioned for a second series.

DeAnna, Amanda, Lexi, and Rachael have one thing in common: they have all ‘dated’ prisoners they when they started writing to inmates they found online. Pictured above left is DeAnna and right is Amanda

The women, who hail from across the US and are of a variety of ages, backgrounds and circumstance, all say that what started as pen pal friendships turned into romantic relationships that unexpectedly left them powerless to resist the men. Pictured above left is Lexi and right is Rachael

Psychologist and psychometrician Dr. Robert Sternberg, a former president of the University of Wyoming who currently teaches human development courses at Cornell, said: ‘Falling in love with a prisoner reduces your risk while preserving some of the excitement. For people who have issues with intimacy and commitment, it gives them an out of a having a relationship in which you can have the exciting passion without having to put in too much intimacy or passion.

‘Although it’s odd to say it, there’s a certain level of safety dating a prisoner because they may have done bad things to other people but you may think they’ll never do it to me.

‘I think that what happens in these kinds of cases is that people, tend to build up a fantasy world. That’s what people do and who is to say to another person that you’re crazy and I’m not.’

Dr Sternberg, who discussed the broad topic and has not encountered the women who spoke with DailyMail.com, said: ‘There are a lot of people who are in bad relationships where the person is right next to them in bed.’

Sheila Isenberg, who conducted extensive research for her book, Women Who Love Men Who Kill, said: ‘These relationships are part of a control thing because the men are in this situation where they have no control since they’re in prison. She makes the decisions, does she visit him, does she send him money… it’s all her.

‘Most of the women don’t think the guy is guilty even though he’s been convicted. So the women have to deny he’s guilty in order to form a relationship otherwise they couldn’t.’

She added: ‘The… relationships are very artificial. They never progress to a stage of companionship. They always stay exciting or romantic because the men will seemingly always be in prison. People do things that others consider unbelievable for what they believe to be love.’

From ex-addict single mom to policy adviser at the Justice Department: DeAnna Hoskins credits her 11-year relationship with an inmate for helping her turn her life around

Thirteen years ago DeAnna Hoskins (pictured) was a single mother of three struggling to make ends meet after escaping an abusive marriage. A friend told her she might find love again by writing to prisoners and they browsed WriteAPrisoner.com together. Unbeknownst to DeAnna, her friend wrote to an inmate, Keith Miller, under her name

At the time, Keith Miller (pictured) was serving a 50-year sentence in Indiana after being convicted of drug trafficking. He wrote back to DeAnna and they began communicating regularly by letter and phone.

After a year of writing, they became involved in a relationship in 2005 when she started driving five hours on weekends to visit him in prison. They are pictured above together during one of their many visits in the 2000s

Thirteen years ago DeAnna Hoskins was a single mother of three struggling to make ends meet after escaping an abusive marriage when a friend told her she might find love again by writing to prisoners.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, DeAnna was not convinced. Together the two friends browsed WriteAPrisoner.com, a website where prisoners ask for pen pals, and unbeknownst to DeAnna, her friend wrote to an inmate under her name.

The man she selected was Keith Miller, who was serving 50 years at the Pendleton Correctional Facility in Fall Creek Township, Indiana after being convicted of drug trafficking.

Miller, now aged 49, wrote back to DeAnna who was so shocked to get a letter from him that she replied and they began communicating regularly by letter and phone.

Now a 49-year-old senior policy adviser at the US Department of Justice, DeAnna says it was nothing more than a pen pal relationship for a year and that she became increasingly interested in his case. She had herself served time behind bars having been a drug addict – snorting cocaine, smoking crack, taking pills and smoking marijuana – for nine years until getting clean at the age of 28 while serving six months of a year prison sentence for felony cocaine possession.

As she tells it, Miller was sentenced to the lengthy amount of time after selling three grams of cocaine to a police informant whose name was never disclosed publicly: ‘We just started communicating via letters and then one day he asked if he could call me so I gave him my phone number. From there we just started speaking on the phone and it was really just a pen pal relationship. As I got to him, I was shocked that he received 50 years for literally three grams of cocaine that he sold to a confidential informant.’

The friendship between the pair developed into stronger feelings. After a year of writing, they became involved in a relationship in 2005 when she started driving five hours on weekends to visit him in prison.

They even got tattoos of each other’s names and planned to marry upon his release.

They even got tattoos of each other’s names and planned to marry upon his release. Pictured above is the tattoo on Keith's arm that he still has and says he will never get rid of it

The emotional support they provided each other and his prison conviction sparked an interest in criminal justice reform for DeAnna. The single mother and former drug addict went back to college and earned both Bachelor and Master degrees. She then embarked in a career and quickly became a re-entry case manager in the Indiana Department of Corrections in 2007

‘It was truly just a friendship that grew and I think for me, the maturity level I had after being in an abusive marriage for all of those years since I was 19. It started to allow me to see that emotional support was one of the characteristics that I needed or that I longed for because I never had that.’

This was the first time Ohio native DeAnna had built a friendship that ‘truly turned into love.’

‘I was a single mother in college, and what the conversation did for me, it became a support system. He was very encouraging and very supportive.

‘It was a mutual support system and eventually he asked me if I would come see him and I said yes. So I started driving five hours to Michigan City, Indiana on weekends to see this man. I couldn’t believe that I was driving five hours to see a man in prison at first.’

But the emotional support DeAnna received was not the only thing she was getting from their relationship. The circumstances surrounding his prison sentence sparked her interest in criminal justice.

DeAnna went back to school, graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in social work, then a master’s in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.

Once she landed that job, she was forced to stop dating Keith. She said: ‘That was really hard, but he was so supportive and wanted me to pursue my dreams. I truly loved that man and appreciated all of the support that he gave me.’

Miller remained behind bars – he would eventually be released in 2015 after serving 25 years. Hoskins career kept advancing as she became a strong advocate for criminal justice reform. The 49-year-old currently works as senior policy adviser at the US Department of Justice.

Miller remained behind bars – he would eventually be released in 2015 after serving 25 years – DeAnna's career kept advancing: she first worked as a program manager in the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for then-Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Despite her relationship with Miller being the thing that sparked her interest in criminal justice, it was her career that forced her to stop dating when she landed a job as a re-entry case manager in the Indiana Department of Corrections in 2007.

The pair did meet up after he was released from prison, but they have since gone their separate ways.

‘That was really hard, but he was so supportive and wanted me to pursue my dreams,’ she said. ‘I truly loved that man and appreciated all of the support that he gave me.’

She transitioned careers in 2008 and they picked up where they left off in their relationship until he got released.

‘After he was released from prison a few years ago, we did meet up while he was in a half-way house. That was great to spend time with him outside of the prison,’ she said.

DeAnna, who celebrated 19 years of sobriety on March 25, added that her children, now aged 31, 21 and 19, also met Miller.

Despite the strong feelings they shared, a true relationship was not an option and she got her tattoo of his name covered. Miller kept his tattoo as a testament to his appreciation and love for her.

He is now in a relationship with another woman and is working two jobs. He told DailyMail.com that DeAnna did so much for him while he was in prison: ‘She was there when no one else was there and I truly love her for that.’

Direct care worker, 21, who lives with her mom and dad wants to marry and have kids with jailed child rapist she and her parents believe is innocent

Lexi Ross, 21, lives with her parents in Pennsylvania where she is a direct care worker helping people with developmental disabilities. She is also engaged to a convicted child rapist who claims to be innocent.

Casmer Volk, 36, is serving 28 years to life after his 2012 conviction of first-degree rape of a child in Washington State. He also has a string of previous sex offender convictions including voyeurism.

Lexi is convinced of his innocence and the couple hope to marry and have a family together. Her parents, initially wary of their daughter’s relationship, now support her and are also convinced of his innocence (they were recently approved by prison officials to be added to Volk’s list of visitors).

She operates a Facebook page – ‘Casmer Volk Is Innocent’ – where she posts photos, case updates and messages that she receives from him behind bars. One of her latest updates is that he was granted a new trial from the court of appeals, but will still have to remain behind bars.

Lexi Ross (pictured), 21, lives with her parents in Pennsylvania where she is a direct care worker helping people with developmental disabilities. She is also engaged to a convicted child rapist, Casmer Volk, who claims to be innocent

Volk, 36, is serving 28 years to life after his 2012 conviction of first-degree rape of a child in Washington State. He also has a string of previous sex offender convictions including voyeurism. Lexi is convinced of his innocence and the couple hope to marry and have a family together. He is pictured above inside prison

In three years, Lexi has spent more than $9,000 sending him money to buy items from the prison commissary and paying for expensive phone calls. That amount does not include the cross-country plane tickets and hotel rooms she books when she travels to see him every three months.

Lexi and Volk say that if he’s not released from prison, which won’t be until 2040 if he serves the full sentence, they are prepared to get married while he’s locked up.

The 21-year-old first became inspired to seek out a friendship with an inmate after watching a television show about prisons.

‘I just thought “oh it must be lonely in there with no one to talk to”. So I decided to be a pen pal and searched on Google how to become one,’ Lexi told DailyMail.com. ‘A bunch of websites came up and I just picked one, and a ton of prisoners instantly came up. I saw Casmer’s profile and read on his profile about how he claimed to be innocent. So I was curious and emailed him.’

After a year of communicating nonstop by phone, email and even video chat sessions, Lexi (pictured) traveled across country to visit him in prison for the first time in August 2016. It was during that visit, Volk asked her to marry him and she said yes

In three years, Lexi has spent more than $9,000 sending Volk (above left) money to buy items from the prison commissary and paying for expensive phone calls. It does not include the cross-country plane tickets and hotel rooms she books when she travels to see him every three months

Lexi did more research and said she was ‘shocked’ to see he was convicted of child rape.

‘I thought, like wow what am I getting myself into. And then I said to myself: “I’m not going to ask him about it, I’m just going to let him tell me”,’ she said.

‘Even though I was already feeling uneasy about it. But he just explained everything to me and how he was convicted without DNA evidence. I thought it was completely crazy and believe he is innocent.”

After a year of communicating nonstop by phone, email and even video chat sessions, Lexi traveled across country to visit him in prison for the first time in August 2016. It was during that visit, Volk asked her to marry him.

‘We were both misty eyed and I said yes. He ended up giving me this cute little beaded ring right after that,’ Lexi recounted.

‘I was not expecting to fall in love, not at all. I was just expecting to be a friend to someone. You know, “Hi, bye how’s your day” type of thing. Definitely didn’t see that happening at all.

She runs a Facebook page – ‘Casmer Volk Is Innocent’ – where she posts photos, case updates and messages that she receives from him behind bars. Pictured above is one of the notes

Pictured above is another note her wrote Lexi and a photo of him. He wrote: 'You are my very best friend and the woman I choose to grow old with. I love you always and soon baby I will be free to give you kisses constantly!'

Pictured above is a t-shirt being sold on the Facebook page to support their claims of his innocence

‘I guess I used to think that if you were in prison, you were guilty. But this has definitely opened my eyes to the fact that there are some people there who are not supposed to be.’

Volk, who was convicted of voyeurism in 1999, 2006 and 2007, and then communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in 2008, said he is thankful to ‘God for blessing him with Lexi’ and hopes they will have a family together.

‘I just am extremely blessed. I was praying to the Lord. It is a very lonely place in here,’ Volk told DailyMail.com during a phone call from prison.

‘And Lexi stuck here by my side 100 percent for over two years and four months. She’s an extremely special woman. I’ve never had kids and I want kids. She’s someone I could have kids with. That’s another blessing to the Lord that I never thought I would get that opportunity with this situation and my life being taken from me.’

Lexi and her parents have helped Volk get a new attorney to work on his case and have filed paperwork requesting a new trial based on the DNA test not matching to Volk's.

‘They support us and I think that they are pretty amazing to be okay and open to our relationship – me being where I’m at and knowing our age difference. That’s a big difficulty for some people to get over,’ he said.

‘I’ve spoken to her parents on the phone and hope they will travel soon with her so I can meet them.’

Within 13 months of writing her first letter to him, Amanda, 26, had married her felon lover, quit her job and left her family to live with him under house arrest 216 miles away

In February 2017, Amanda Mason Eby was having a ‘rough time’ and decided to write to Matthew Eby who was serving a five-year prison sentence for several felony home invasion charges.

Just over a year later, the two are married and Amanda, 26, has quit her job as a legal assistant, left her parents and moved 216 miles from Michigan to Indiana to live with her husband while he serves a year under house arrest.

She says she went from living comfortably in Michigan to now only ‘making enough money to pay’ their bills, but the sacrifices have been worth it because ‘they are truly in love’.

‘I was having a rough time I would say in my old life and I was really just looking for someone to talk to and I thought that somebody was in prison,’ she told DailyMail.com.

‘I really didn’t think they could judge me. And I had aided someone before who was in prison so I knew my way around things a bit.

Plus, there was no physical relationship. In today’s day in age, most of the time you meet somebody, they just want to sleep with you.’

In February 2017, Amanda Mason Eby was having a ‘rough time’ and decided to write to Matthew Eby who was serving a five-year prison sentence for several felony home invasion charges (pictured together during an early prison visit in 2017)

Just over a year later, the two are married and Amanda, 26, has quit her job as a legal assistant, left her parents and moved 216 miles from Michigan to Indiana to live with her husband while he serves a year under house arrest (pictured above after getting married in May 2017 while he was still in prison)

Their conversations quickly developed into constant phone calls, and then eight visits per month until May 16, 2017 – the day they got married in the prison.

‘I really love him, I married him while he was in prison,’ Amanda said. ‘I believe that if you want to be with somebody, you should be with them no matter what situation they are in.’

Her husband was released from prison on January 8, this year, but he has to serve under house arrest until August 2019 in Indiana for another crime he was convicted of at the same time as the charges in Michigan.

‘He got released and I found a house for us to rent in the beginning of February and I think it’s working out okay,’ she said. ‘I moved here to be with him and it’s exciting. I really love him more than anything.’

In the beginning her parents did not approve, but they eventually came around and now love him, she said.

Despite the bold move from home, Amanda misses her parents and is adjusting to her new life.

Amanda said: ‘I really love him, I married him while he was in prison. I believe that if you want to be with somebody, you should be with them no matter what situation they are in.’ Pictured above on their wedding day May 16, 2017

In the beginning her parents did not approve, but they eventually came around and now love him, she said. Amanda and Matthew are pictured above during a November 2017 prison visit with her parents

She said: ‘It was really hard for me because I had to move far away from my family. It’s definitely hard. I just miss my family and I’m so used to being close with my parents. They come down and visit every other weekend.

I was a legal assistant before I had to quit my job to come here and I was really proud of my job. I just pretty much picked up my life and moved all my stuff and came here.

‘It’s just been rather rough adjusting.’

Her 28-year-old husband appreciates everything she’s done to help him – which includes paying $100 a week for the house arrest fee - since they meet one year ago.

‘Matt is great, he’s loving and affectionate and would do anything for me,’ she explained.

‘I’m used to a different way of living. My parents have money, they’re always there for me, and so I never had to go without having my nails or toes done.

‘But now it’s different. We literally make enough money to pay our bills and that’s it. It’s definitely different not being able to do things like get my nails and toes done and stuff.

Her husband was released from prison on January 8, this year, but he has to serve under house arrest until August 2019 in Indiana for another crime he was convicted of at the same time as the charges in Michigan. They are pictured together in 2018 after he was released

Despite making a big lifestyle adjustment, Amanda said she doesn’t regret anything and wouldn’t change her decision to marrying a convicted felon. They are pictured above after his release in 2018

‘He treated me the other day by letting me get a manicure, but I couldn’t get my toes done. So we bought nail polish at CVS and he gave me a pedicure at home. It was really sweet.’

Despite making a big lifestyle adjustment, Amanda said she doesn’t regret anything and wouldn’t change her decision to marrying a convicted felon.

‘You know I feel that he made a mistake. You know when you’re 23 years old you have kind of the weight of the world on your shoulders and you’re trying to take care of your family, you don’t always make the right decisions or choices. He’s not the same person as he was all those years ago and I love him,’ she explained.

‘Marriage is definitely hard, it’s not always easy. You have to agree to disagree a lot, but if you love each other you can make it work.’

'Soccer mom' of three children married for 27 years says she's been having an emotional affair with a convicted murder who is the accused leader of white supremacist prison gang - and her husband has no clue

A 49-year-old New York native spoke to DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity is a self-described ‘soccer mom’ who has been married to her husband for 27 years. He has no idea that she has been having an ‘emotional affair’ with an inmate for the past five years.

The woman, a mother of three children, is in a relationship with a convicted murder serving 20 years to life in at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon who spends weeks to months at a time in solitary confinement because he is the accused leader of a white supremacist prison gang. Though she denies he is the leader of the white supremacist gang, he has sent her several hand-drawn pictures that is heavy on racist iconography.

She shared several images of the art pieces he had drawn for her with DailyMail.com and most of them include vikings and eagles - which are two symbols associated with white supremacy.

When DailyMail.com first spoke with her in January, her 'boyfriend' was not in solitary confinement, but that quickly changed and he is now ‘back in the hole’ for an undetermined amount of time.

The woman, whose identity has been checked by DailyMail.com along with that of her 'boyfriend', explained that she re-evaluated her life after having a ‘near death experience’ when she was 43.

‘I believed I had a second chance at life. I wanted to do something that would be a positive influence on somebody else,’ she said in hushed tones from outside her home one afternoon.

A 49-year-old New York native spoke to DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity is a self-described ‘soccer mom’ who has been married to her husband for 27 years. He has no idea that she has been having an ‘emotional affair’ with an inmate at Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon for the past five years

‘So one night around 2am, I was bored and going through the internet and was like “oh maybe I’ll write an inmate out there that needs a little lifting and what not.” So I was like “this guy here looks young enough to where I’ll never be interested in him, something that I’m not looking for.”

She then sent the inmate, who is 11 years younger than her, an email via WriteAPrisoner.com. Within a week, he’d responded and at first it was a ‘good friendship’, but things ‘sort of developed’ into much more.

She now spends $300 a month on phone calls and putting money in his prison account and even flew across the country to see him, unfazed by his conviction or his prison activities, after telling her husband she needed time away because she was having a mid-life crisis.

‘I went to Oregon to see him and spent five days out there. ‘I told my husband that I was having a midlife crisis and I needed to get away and he was like “okay”. It’s not like I needed some adventure or something.

'Like I said it started out with good intentions, it’s a good release from reality. I’m not going to pretend it’s all full of romance and what not, it’s real life. It just sucks the situation that he’s in.

The woman, who first found the inmate's profile on WriteAPrisoner.com,now spends $300 a month on phone calls and putting money in his prison account and even flew across the country to see him, unfazed by his conviction or his prison activities, after telling her husband she needed time away because she was having a mid-life crisis. Pictured above is one of the drawings he made for her in prison which features vikings

‘I do love him. I would love to be with him. But the reality is I have three children here, my whole family is here.’

She added that she loves her husband and says he ‘is the most awesome man in the world’ and makes a good living, but that they have ‘issues’.

‘He has a heart condition and he’s a very large man so I don’t know what his life expectancy is either. We haven’t had sex in over 10 years because of his health issues. So I don’t know self-consciously is this my back up plan. It’s a lot going on.’

Her adult children know she communicates with a prisoner, but don’t know that she’s in love with the 38-year-old murder.

As for their future, she said she doesn’t know what will happen.

‘He will be up for parole soon and if he gets released, I plan to go out there and help him get set up with a nice place to live and what not. I’d probably stay for a little bit, but I don’t know what the future holds and what will happen with us. I would love to be with him again, but you know my situation is very different.’

Colorado woman DIVORCED her husband of 20 years after falling in love with a DEATH ROW double murderer and rapist - and now they're engaged even though they've never met

Mother-of-one Rachael Hectus (left) has a plan and is in the process of making it happen: the Colorado resident is in love with Nevada death row inmate Gregory Hover (right) and is moving closer to him.

Mother-of-one Rachael Hectus has a plan and is in the process of making it happen: the Colorado resident is in love with Nevada death row inmate Gregory Hover and is moving closer to him - though the pair have never met.

Rachael, 44, is not worried that her now-fiancé was found guilty by a jury in 2013 of killing two people during a crime spree that also involved a rape and robbery.

‘No, I’m not scared. He wasn’t a criminal before all that. He was a law abiding citizen and then he got hooked to meth when he committed the crimes,’ she said.

Rachael began writing inmates with the intention of just being friends.

‘I’ve written people on death row before. I would only write death row inmates, I would never write someone who’s in even for life. At the time I think, it’s because I feel bad,’ she explained.

‘I’m anti-death penalty and even though they’ve done terrible things, I think the death penalty is state sanctioned murder. Usually when people go on death row, they’re forgotten by society, they’re ostracized. And I just never thought that was okay so I would write people.’

Rachael, 44, is not worried that her now-fiancé was found guilty by a jury in 2013 of killing two people during a crime spree that also involved a rape and robbery. ‘No, I’m not scared. Greg wasn’t a criminal before all that. He was a law abiding citizen and then he got hooked to meth when he committed the crimes,’ she said

When she started writing to Hover three years ago, she says they were ‘just friends at first.’ But things quickly developed between the two, despite the fact that she was married to another man - and had been for more than 20 years.

Rachael says that her ex-husband did not give her the emotional support she desired, and instead she found that bond with Hover.

‘I just, I needed a friend or just someone to write back and forth with. I needed an outlet of some kind, with someone to talk to or whatever,’ she said. ‘Once we did connect emotionally I needed that. That’s what I needed. And my ex was emotionally distant.’

She ended up divorcing her husband to be with Hover, but due to financial issues Rachael and her ex still live together.

And though she has yet to meet Hover in person, Rachael says she’s in love and wants to marry the killer.

‘He’s got 15 or so years of appeals in Nevada, so we’ve got 15 years at least together,’ she said.