EXPO – EX-incarcerated People Organizing @expowisconsin · Community Organization

EXPO (EX-Prisoners Organizing) emerged in 2014 when formerly incarcerated people from around Wisconsin began to gather to discuss what it would look like to have our own statewide organization. Previously imprisoned women and men lead EXPO. Our members provide support to each other and organize to change Wisconsin’s unjust penal system. We receive support from family members of currently and formerly incarcerated people and allies who have not experienced incarceration. EXPO has active chapters in Milwaukee, Madison, and Eau Claire and we are developing chapters in Racine, Kenosha, Beloit, Green Bay, the Fox Cities, and Wausau. EXPO is a project of WISDOM, a statewide organization that links faith communities to work for justice.

We believe that those most affected by issues must be involved in decisions about and responses to the issues. We believe that those closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. EXPO’s motto is, “you have the right to NOT remain silent.” We believe in the human dignity of currently and formerly incarcerated people and recognize that they come from and are part of our communities. We believe that men and women with conviction and arrest records should be viewed as human beings, members of families, and assets to communities.

EXPO is working to transform Wisconsin’s unjust punishment system. EXPO provides a vehicle through which people with conviction and arrest histories can combine our voices, knowledge, and power to be effective advocates for serious reform of our broken justice system. EXPO leaders drive WISDOM’s ROC (Restoring Our Communities) Wisconsin Campaign to end mass incarceration. This statewide campaign focuses on mobilizing communities that have been adversely affected by mass incarceration and restoring the civil and human rights of people with records. This campaign also mobilizes the broader community. EXPO provides leadership training to previously imprisoned people who want to become part of the movement for change. Activities of EXPO leaders include giving presentations at local organizations, meeting with elected officials, testifying at public hearings, writing opinion pieces, appearing on radio and television shows, and participating in ROC Wisconsin actions and policy workgroups.

EXPO members have helped to lead campaigns that prompted policymakers to:

• ban the box for federal jobs;

• ban the box for jobs in the City of Madison;

• expand funding for Wisconsin’s Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Program;

• reduce the use of solitary confinement in Wisconsin prisons; and

• expand funding for Wisconsin’s transitional jobs program.

Future Goals

We are currently fighting to:

• end the practice of imprisoning people for crimeless revocations (the practice of re-incarcerating people on probation, parole, or extended supervision for violating rules of supervision that do not involve new crimes);

• restore voting rights for all formerly incarcerated people; and

• expand eligibility for expungements in Wisconsin.

You can get involved by:

• joining a local EXPO chapter;

• participating in an EXPO leadership development program;

• joining a ROC Wisconsin policy workgroup;

• joining a local ROC Wisconsin Task Force;

• asking an EXPO leader to give a presentation to your organization, congregation, or class; and

• making a tax-deductible contribution to WISDOM to support the work of EXPO.