I have a summer assignment which involves me having to find a pen-pal & I was thinking about writing an inmate, what are the risks? Is it safe?

While there are OK people, in prison, fathers and uncles and more. The issue is, there are also plenty of con people, child molesters and more. So, no, you should not be a pen pal, with someone from prison that is not already a family friend or known to you.

No it's not safe at all because you have no idea what they are about. Find a penpal outside of prison.

I'm with everyone else... find a penpal that's not in prison, there are plenty of them that aren't. Way too many things can go very, very wrong.