Forum For Understanding Prisons FFUP

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more about FFUP and what we do

BEFRIEND A PRISONER Go to our penpal blog where  over 300 prisoners requesting penpals give their introductions. You can make a big difference in their lives and the experience will enrich yours. We are always available for support.

Wisconsin Coalition   News       Find out about our new member : PAW Prison Action Wisconsin Meets 2nd Saturday of each month from 10 am to 12 noon All Gods Children Church; 3356 Martin Luther King Drive; Milwaukee, Wi  OUR  current efforts and   Wisconsin Prison news *Governor Doyle's  plan For prison change coming: *alerts, actions for Coalition campaign for Fair Parole

News about Wisconsin prisons and supermaxes around the country

NEW!! MEET YOUR PRISONERS prisoners tell their stories onblogs- many coming, One here.

blogs   prisoner's works war in the poor Racism Wisconsin Style FFUP newsletter WPW newsletter prisoner made crafts for sale prisoner resources mentally ill in prison Brian Locke enfanchise all parole primer RON SCHILLING, one man's long struggle for parole TOMMY SILVERSTEIN, the most isolated man in the nation ANTONIO SETTLES, insiteful views

FFUP Campaigns campaign for Fair parole Voting for felons SOLITARY HELL *Hiding our mentally ill in prison *profiles and requests for penpals from some of our friends having hard time in solitary.  *essays and articles about control unit prisons and over use and abuse of solitary in regular prisons.

Innocent and wrongly convicted prisoners tell their stories

DID YOU KNOW? 1)The United States has less than 5% of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. The United States leads the world in producing prisoners 2)Prison populations are now eight times what they were in 1970. And there is no end to the growth under current policies. 3)Sentences are too LONG!  For the same crimes, American prisoners receive sentences twice as long as English prisoners, three times as long as Canadian prisoners, four times as long as Dutch prisoners, five to 10 times as long as French prisoners, and five times as long as Swedish prisoners. Yet these countries’ rates of violent crime are lower than ours, and their rates of property crime are comparable. 4) It costs about $25,000 a year to house a person in prison. Between 1985 and 2000, spending on corrections rose at six times the rate of spending for higher education. Essentially, policymakers are faced with a choice of whether they wish to contribute to an expanded prison system or provide vital social services. They can no longer do both.

all art work done by prisoners, Click on              pictures to go to artist's posts

women prisoners and  women's prisons- essays and pleas

our art gallery is still under construction,there is some to view now but will be better ready soon

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? The best way to save money and stop wasting lives is to UNLOCK AMERICA- push for and institute a wise prison policy.

1) Release  prisoners who are parole elligible and rehabilitated. They are needed out here!! Why spend from $20 to $65, 000 on someone who is no longer dangerous and can contribute.???

2) Give money to counties to build local  crime prevention programs, drug treatment and good school programs and alternatives to prison- tell him to look at the Minnesota way- a fraction of the prisoners

3)And finally, most of prisoners are non violent, in for crimes of povery and what is called "victimless crimes" like drug use. The other big part of this group are parolees who have been sent back to prison for minor parole violations- non felonies. These people should be released for an enormous savings of money and lives

FFUP strongly suggests this study,  very informative, well done and   GOOD READING   Unlocking America summary here with link to full study

FFUP  Mission statement Forum For Understanding Prisons (FFUP) is a prisoner support group, based in Wisconsin, dedicated to finding ways in which concerned citizens can make changes in our justice system. Our long term goal is to help bring about community control of corrections. We write to prisoners from Wisconsin and around the country, work with family members, advocate within the system, and help spread the word to our fellow citizens that we citizens are responsible for the well being of those we lock up, that every prisoner has a story.

WANNA HELP???? How to get involved read below and tell us what you think We welcome input and help at any level . We suggest approaching this in small steps as this is hard stuff, not because of the work involved, but because it is painful to discover all the inneccessary cruelty. One of the best ways to begin, is to look at our penpal site to see the human face of our prisons and the need there. We welcome you to email us with any questions or comments on what we are doing. Besides penapaling , here are some of the other tasks we need help with:    TYPING NEEDED     Like to work on the web?    Card project?     helping us strategize our campaigns.? Working with legislators  and the public. email us if you would like more information Because at the center of our work is writing to prisoners and working with families, we are always swamped with requests that go off in every direction. These blogs and webs are an attempt to get the word out there. to donate: send check or money order Forum for Understanding Prisons (FFUP)        PO Box 285 Richland Center, Wi 53581 FFUP is a 501c3 non profit

email  swansol@mwt.net FFUP PO Box 285 Richland Center, WI 53518

more on who we are and what we do and ways you can get involved How  donations are used