.     Writing to someone in a
       penitentiary is what one
       would assume to be the
       etymology of a Pen Pal.

       Well no, because people
       confined in the Gaza Strip
       are known as Penned in
       Palestinians, or Pen Pal’s!

       Internment, just as Britain
       practiced in Ireland during
       The Troubles, for those they
       deemed to be Troublemakers.

       I just saw an amputee photo
       today on The Guardian, a boy
       in Khan Yunis without arms, a
       hooligan stone throwing Pen Pal.