• Join the Yahoo group
• Email, Write, or Call Your Own Congressional Representative
• Set up a meeting with your Congressional Representative
• Write a Letter to the Editor of your Local Newspaper
• Become an advocate for the Good Time bill
• Talking Points on Why America Needs the Good Time Bill

Join the Yahoo group to learn more, share information, help with the campaign. Send an email to:
goodtimebill-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit the Yahoo group goodtimebill now.

Find your representatives by congressional district.
How do I know what district I live in?

If you do not know your zip, go here to get it: http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

Or, go to: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Here you will simply:
1) Select your state
2) Type in your full zip code (zip with 4-digit extension, 11111-1111)
Now you will know what district you are in AND have your representative's contact information! And by the way, you'll be using the local (not DC) office.

You should also find out if...
* your representative already a co-sponsor of the Good Time Bill? Check the list here. If so, you can contact them and thank them for co-sponsoring the bill.
* your representative is on the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives? Check the list here. If so when you contact them, urge them to vote it out of committee as well as supporting and co-sponsoring it!

OK, you know who your representatives are and you've checked out the relevant information!
Email, write letters and CALL now!

An in-person visit is one of the most effective ways to lobby your representative. When you meet with your congressional representative and/or staff, tell them why you are personally interested and do your best to make this issue real to your representative in the way it is real to you. Remember, you are your representative's constituent and what is important to you should be important to your representative. Be sure to stress the fact that the bill will save this country (and your representative's constituents) billions of dollars, which just about everyone can agree is a good thing. You can also share any other reasons this bill might be important to you... for example, that you are concerned about prison overcrowding or know a prisoner who is missed in his or her family and community.

Writing a letter to the editor of your local paper is a great way to get the word out about the Good time Bill. A good place to start is to read the letters to the editor and get a feel for the form and style of the letters that get published. You can use the talking points on this site for ideas of what to write. Keep your letter short and to the point: aim for under 200 words. State the problem with the state of federal prisons and overcrowding, state the solution (pass the Good Time Bill!), and wrap up with a final sentence or call to action. Make it your own. Check your local newspaper's website or LTE section for information on how best to submit your own letter. At most small newspapers, you can call or email the letters editor a couple of days after submission to make sure they received your letter.

View these guidelines for tips on letter-writing.

• It costs tax-payers over $40,000 per year to keep each federal prisoner behind bars.²
• Total cost to US taxpayers for federal incarceration is over 7.64 billion annually.^1,2
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons is over 40% overcrowded and many facilities are operating at 100% capacity with no plan for relief.²
• Nearly three-fourths (72.1%) of federal prisoners are serving time for a non-violent offense and have no history of violence.³
• It will cost the federal government over $700,000 to incarcerate a person over 50 years of age for the rest of his or her life.⁴
• Especially given the strain on the federal budget as well as the hardship faced by many American tax-payers during this economic recession, we cannot afford to incarcerate so many ageing people in the federal system.
• African American drug offenders have a 20% greater chance of being sentenced to prison than white drug offenders, and Hispanics a 40% greater chance. (One in fifteen African American men are incarcerated and one in thirty-six Hispanic men are incarcerated.) ^3,4
• In the last 30 years, the United States prison population has quadrupled. 1 in every 99 American adults is now behind bars. ^4,5
• People in federal prison deserve a second chance to make positive contributions to society.