re: Couple marry despite never meeting in real life

It’s an odd psychological phenomenon that I don’t fully understand, but this is somewhat commonplace with men in prison. They would meet some woman and become a pen pal, and before you know it, they’d fall in love and want to get married (sometimes actually married) before they ever met or possibly just spent a little time in the visitation booth.

I don’t think there is intentional fraud or manipulation at play in most cases. No, it’s more like the woman gets to have a “real man” who is partially a fantasy in her own mind. She projects this fantasy man onto the real prisoner, who appreciates that someone sees them in such a positive light.

I’ve never followed up on those marriages after the guy got out of prison, but I suspect the real life a-hole prisoner eventually gets tired of the clingy woman with her greater than life expectations of him.