Svea has plans for Joseph to join her in Germany, but the odds do seem to be stacked against this Prison Brides couple.
Finding a pen pal online is evidently fairly easy, no matter where you are in the world. But it turns out that things get much more complicated when the American prison system, true love and international travel are all thrown into the mix.
Lifetime’s Prison Brides docuseries follows the trials and tribulations of seven different women who have set out to do the seemingly impossible.
They are convinced that they can make their relationships with their inmate partners work, despite all of the obstacles standing in their way.
Svea’s plans for her and Joseph’s future
One of the first women that we was introduced to on this series, is Svea, from Germany.
Like many of the other women featured on the show, Svea unexpectedly fell in love with her boyfriend, Joseph, after they started writing to each other on an online pen-pal forum for inmates.
But unlike some of the other hopeful couples, Svea and Joseph have actually been able to start their life together on the outside after Joseph was released from parole.
However, in the show’s most recent fourth episode, we learned that Svea’s big move to the United States was only temporary – and that she had actually planned for Joseph to join her in Germany once his parole was over.
And though we do not blame Svea (after all, living in Germany seems like a much better deal than living in Joseph’s cousin’s unfinished basement in the middle of the Michigan winter), we cannot help but feel like this plan is going to fall apart by the end of this series.
What we know about Svea and Joseph so far
With new couples being introduced almost weekly, it can be difficult to keep track of the all-important, who?– where?- and what? questions for every individual couple.
Fortunately, we have rounded up all of the most important details which have been revealed about Svea and Joseph, below:
| Svea | Joseph |
|
|
The first few warning signs
While it was a shock to many of the Prison Brides fans watching along from home that Svea had no intention of moving to the United States to be with Joseph, the couple seemingly discussed their plans even before he was released on parole.
Svea revealed in the “Second Degree Engagement” episode, that she had sent Joseph books so that he could learn German.
However, even with all that prison time on his hands, Joseph has yet to speak a single correct word of German to Svea on the show thus far.
And this, compounded with Svea’s remark about Americans’ work-ethic, makes it seem like Joseph may not be working as hard to get to Germany as Svea might have hoped.
Why Joseph may not be able to join Svea even if he wanted to
Joseph and Svea are not married and though they have expressed an interest in starting a family, they do not have any children together.
This is certainly cause for concern for both of their families, and it could complicate Joseph’s move to Germany even more.
Germany does tend to be more lenient than other countries when it comes to handing out visas or getting people on the immigration track.
But the country is considerably stricter when it comes to Schengen Visa applications, where applicant get a criminal record as a result of a violent or drug-related criminal offence.
Another potential obstacle in the way of Svea and Joseph’s relocation plans
There is no doubt that both Svea and Joseph seem extremely determined to make their relationship work, regardless of their less than ideal living conditions and cultural differences.
However, in reality, they still have a lot to overcome – even if you discount their cross-border struggles.
According to a 2019 report by The Council of State Governments Justice Center, about 45% of state prison admissions are attributable to violations of probation or parole.
And, as a result, it seems like before Svea and Joseph can start worrying about how he can make it to Germany, they will need to start worrying about how he will be able to stay out of jail (while she is halfway across the world), first.
And, in the end, it just seems like Svea’s plan will be much more complicated (and more highly unlikely) than she and Joseph likely expected.
Also read:
