Prison Mathematics Project
@prisonmathproj
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We connect math enthusiasts inside and outside of prison, by pairing up incarcerated people with math mentors.
Joined July 2020
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ANNOUNCEMENT 🥧: Our π Day fundraiser!! Every March 14th we go to different prisons in the USA to spread the joy of mathematics (with pie)! Any donation helps :)
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Any fans of mathematical physics? This paper was cowritten by Travis Cunningham, a participant in the Prison Mathematics Project who discovered a love of math after exploring physics. He hopes to pursue a PhD when he's released.
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"Until I started studying mathematics, my life had just been chaos and destruction," said Travis Cunningham, a PMP participant who recently published a paper on resonances. "When I got my first text on partial differential equations, I learned what love is."
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It's probably the oldest problem in math: counting. This paper, "Counting tilings of the n×m grid, cylinder, and torus", was coauthored by Prison Math Project participant William Keehn. A beautiful meeting between combinatorics and topology!
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"It felt great to be able to be a part of something like this - it was a bucket list item for me. I learned a lot of group theory and topology," William wrote in an email to me. "I devote nearly all of my energy to mathematics because it is a passion."
It's probably the oldest problem in math: counting. This paper, "Counting tilings of the n×m grid, cylinder, and torus", was coauthored by Prison Math Project participant William Keehn. A beautiful meeting between combinatorics and topology!
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A new paper was published by our founder, Christopher Havens, who found his love of math in prison!
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Studying math? Take it from Prison Math Project's Math Guru: Go easy on yourself.
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Paul Morton on studying math in prison: "Most people would not consider it a hardship to obtain some fine point pens for graphing, graph ruled composition notebooks, or even a decent calculator. For us, the stars have to align perfectly for us to obtain them."
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"I studied more advanced mathematics, physics, finance, and every college text book I could find. I still kept that 90 minutes a night sitting on the floor in my cell studying." You can read more of PMP participant Paul Sambursky's remarkable story in our latest newsletter!
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Love math? Care about incarcerated people? Want to support our work at the Prison Math Project? Here's a quick thread on how you can help us. 🧵
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"For me, mathematics has become a way of life, it’s been a part of me for over five years now, and I can't imagine life without it," writes Paul Morton. "I found happiness, true joy, something I realized I had never felt before. I haven't put the math books down since."
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What needs to change about math education?
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What is the most "non-mathematical" skill you picked up from studying math? Many of our participants describe learning how to focus and connect to others.
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"From the age of seven I was in the foster care system. I moved through 31 foster homes, mental institutions and group homes. There was no stability in my life. Then I found math: a safe and constant thing for me to understand," writes participant John Baran.
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$790 raised so far, thanks to your generous support! It would be amazing to get to $1000!
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When Paul Sambursky started studying math, he couldn't even add basic fractions. Now Paul teaches other incarcerated people mathematics.
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It's our ❄️💠🩵WINTER 💠❄️☃️ Holiday fundraiser! We need your donations 🪙 to keep bringing math to incarcerated people. This is the season where we raise enough money to cover mailing costs, π days, and paying our single employee. Support our work today!
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Can you imagine learning how to code without ever being able to compile or run a program? For those in prison, that's the reality. But our project is working on software that allows prisoners to simply email plain text code and get the output emailed back. One problem: cost.
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Many prisons have de facto bans on books, even if they are not de jure. Hardcover books are banned in many prisons, but sometimes even softcover books are seized arbitrarily.
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What math are you working on right now? Some of our participants are studying physics and mechanics, while others are working on high school algebra, calculus, and more. :)
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Where did you find your passion for mathematics? For Christopher Havens, who founded the Prison Mathematics Project, it began in solitary confinement. He's now published a paper in number theory. Read more about his story in our latest newsletter:
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What are you studying right now? Many of our participants are studying basic algebra, properties of exponential and trigonometric functions, and calculus. Others are studying physics, number theory, and measure theory.
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"Don't you find the social aspect of mathematics powerful beyond words?" asks Christopher Havens. "When you engage in research with another human being, there is a distinct type of exchange where you share days, sometimes months, working inside of another person's imagination."
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Do you know that André Weil completed most of his famous conjectures while in military prison in Bonne-Nouvelle? He was charged with failure to report for duty (draft evasion).
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"The Prison Math Project gave me hope in a world with none," writes participant Kevin Henke. "I was in the hole, wondering if I would ever go home, drawing graphs on the walls to see how they move." Please donate today to help participants like Kevin:
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An excerpt from Francis Su's 2017 talk at the AMS-MAA Joint Winter Meetings. Why do you do mathematics? Read the whole talk here:
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Some amazing pictures from our pi days in prisons across the United States!
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What is your favourite part about learning mathematics?
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What kind of math are you studying right now?
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Unfortunately, incidents like these are all too common in prisons. This letter was written by participant David Morales Zenquis.
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WOW. $1270 USD raised for our winter holiday fundraiser thanks to your incredible support :) Adding in the money that some people donated via other platforms, we've raised over $1700 in two weeks. This will help fund more pi days, more letters, more math textbooks, more emails :3
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Any combinatorics lovers out there 💠? This paper was cowritten by William Keehn, a participant in the Prison Mathematics Project. Peep the ArXiv here 👀:
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We're up to $300 USD, which allows 5 incarcerated people to learn math for a year! Can we get that to $400? ☃️
It's our ❄️💠🩵WINTER 💠❄️☃️ Holiday fundraiser! We need your donations 🪙 to keep bringing math to incarcerated people. This is the season where we raise enough money to cover mailing costs, π days, and paying our single employee. Support our work today!
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!!! $750 USD! Thank you for all your support! Can we get this to $1000? ❄️☃️ Reminder that you can make a huge impact for us by sharing our fundraiser to your circle, your insitution's email list, or your social media!
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Are you self-studying math? Prison Mathematics Project participant Billy Perez has some advice: "Do not start by reading. Start by doing."
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$770 USD raised so far for our Winter fundraiser, which covers 26 math participants for 6 months! Feel free to tell your friends, your family, or your faculty about our initiative so we can keep bringing math to incarcerated people :)
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Some (low-res) pictures from π days in previous years... In addition to connecting to incarcerated people via mail, we also do math outreach in person each March 14th. Pretty cool!
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"I envisioned something along the lines of a typical prison pen pal service ... what I found was completely different. I joined a community and I discovered I was welcome," writes math lover Bill Keehn. "It is truly humbling for someone who thought he was alone."
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This practice is illegal, by the way. But abuses like these are common.
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Did you know the Prison Math Project is working on software that allows incarcerated people to compile and read the output of code, entirely through email? Unfortunately, prison mailing services are extremely expensive. Donate today:
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Did you know each year it costs PMP about $60 per participant? This includes mailing, our newsletter, and paying our single employee. Donating $10 each month ensures 2 incarcerated people can learn math each year. Set up a monthly donation here:
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"From the age of seven I was in the foster care system. I moved through 31 foster homes, mental institutions and group homes. There was no stability in my life. Then I found math: a safe and constant thing for me to understand," writes participant John Baran.
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"As exhilarating as learning new mathematical concepts have become, learning I still matter in the eyes of the PMP’s exceptional volunteers and being able to define my own place in any community has been life-changing and far more important." - Rory Andes, PMP participant
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CALL-OUT FOR MENTORS: Many of our participants are requesting mentors for writing (no math skills needed). Interested? Email a resume and a short statement on why you want to help incarcerated people with their writing to writing
@pmathp
.org!
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Paolo Freire: “There's no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.”
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"Many times I, myself,–and I believe I speak for all self-educated learners in prison –will proceed down a subject of interest not knowing where to begin or what comes next, or if we lack any necessary background education to even understand what we’re studying." Do you relate?
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Theorem (Green-Tao, 2004): The primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. An arithmetic progression of length n is a sequence (a, a+k, a+2k, ..., a+(n-1)k) of numbers which differ by a constant multiple k.
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Most nonprofits for incarcerated people aren't founded by someone actually in prison. We are. Want to learn more? Read about us in the Scientific American:
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We are always looking to reach out and share math with more people, especially female inmates, who are underrepresented in our program. If someone you know or love is incarcerated, share our intake form today!
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"For me, mathematics has become a way of life, it’s been a part of me for over five years now, and I can't imagine life without it," writes Paul Morton. "I found happiness, true joy, something I realized I had never felt before. I haven't put the math books down since."
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Are you a math lover? Want to appreciate the great work the Prison Math Project is doing? Read our newsletter for lots of great math content!
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Happy Pi Day for the Prison Mathematics Project! We celebrated by hosting an in person event at Bellamy prison and had 100% of participants request to join PMP. Stay tuned for a sneak peak into our wonderful annual event... coming soon.
#mathematics
#piday
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"I have been locked up for 18 years and have never heard of anything remotely like this."
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Looking for reading material? We recommend Mathematics for Human Flourishing in the 6th edition of our newsletter. It includes reflections from Su's incarcerated friend Christopher Jackson. 💠
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A puzzle! 2023 can be expressed using sixteen 4's, as below. Can you express it with fewer 4s? Two different Prison Math Project participants solved this problem, which was published in Math Horizons!
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Do you do math? We are actively seeking donations of any amount in order to ensure the financial viability of Prison Mathematics Project. Even a little bit helps. Donate today:
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S^n, for n ≥ 2, is an example of a simply connected topological space which is not contractible.
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The Prison Math Project gives incarcerated people the chance to learn math one-on-one with a mentor. As one participant puts it: "I have been locked up for 18 years and have never heard of anything remotely like this."
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We have chosen a new book for our book club: Locked In by John Pfaff! Email us at PMP
@pmathp
.org to get the Zoom link to our meeting, which will be held around April 13th or 14th!
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Want to learn more about the prison system? This is a great place to start.
📚 PJP writers recommended books they thought every student in America should read.
Read more:
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For some testimonials: "The Prison Math Project gave me hope in a world with none," writes participant Kevin Henke. "I was in the hole, wondering if I would ever go home, drawing graphs on the walls to see how they move."
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The email systems used within prisons are pay-per-use. Imagine being charged money every time you tested your program! This amazing no-tech programming solution will require significant financial support. You can set up a monthly or one-time donation here:
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Want to support our work? You can set up a monthly donation and commit to helping incarcerated people learn math!
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Want to make a commitment to bring math to incarcerated people? Just $5 a month allows us to pay for 1 participant to learn math through our project. Sponsor a prisoner's education and set up a monthly donation today:
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The eighth issue of our newsletter is out! Look inside for math puzzles, book reviews, and words from participants in the Prison Mathematics Project!
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What a great puzzle!
One last (easy?) one for 2023. Detailed solution in 2024!
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"Becoming part of the PMP community gave me a way to share and learn and I think that is where I find meaning and purpose," he added. "That is a hard thing to find for someone on the inside." William's mentor is math professor Peter Kagey. :)
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Did you know the Prison Mathematics Project has a monthly book club where we discuss the impacts of incarceration? Recently we read the New Jim Crow. You can join us: shoot us an email, and we'll send you the Zoom link.
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"We all know warehousing human beings does not work, while education does, yet little is being done to educate the public about this reality." - Elmer Cisneros-Alvarado
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Congrats to PMP participant, La-Meik Taylor, and the rest of the Bard Prison Debate Union on their recent win. We are so proud of you and all that you do!
Congratulations to the
#BPIBardDebate
Union, who won their match against
@BrownUniversity
on Friday!
The topic: The number of justices on the Supreme Court should be increased.
The BPI Debate Union record is now 12-4.
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Stories like this one, from Randy Brennan, are common in prisons. Learning math and connecting with another person can make such an enormous difference!
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Is someone you love incarcerated? Give us their information and we'll send them an intake form. We have lots of mentors available to support them!
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Only 2 more days until π day!! Can we get it to 300?
ANNOUNCEMENT 🥧: Our π Day fundraiser!! Every March 14th we go to different prisons in the USA to spread the joy of mathematics (with pie)! Any donation helps :)
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"My mentor, Luke, sends me math that he finds interesting, and he shares the peaks and valleys of his life, along with anything I've asked to learn or problems I'm currently stuck on," says former PMP participant Marshall Byers. He's now been released!
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MENTOR: Have math knowledge to share? Want to teach someone else? You can sign up here: Note it may take a while to be paired up, given we have more mentors than participants!
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$76 raised!!! Can we get that to 100?
ANNOUNCEMENT 🥧: Our π Day fundraiser!! Every March 14th we go to different prisons in the USA to spread the joy of mathematics (with pie)! Any donation helps :)
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TELL A FRIEND: Do you have a loved one or a friend who is incarcerated? The Prison Math Project could be a great fit for them. We can send them an intake form. Find out more here:
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Join us! :) Check out our website for volunteer opportunities (there are many open). PS: We may be a bit slow to respond this holiday season as our volunteers take a much-needed winter break from emailing. :)
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The helplessness that incarcerated people feel in not being able to have access to quality education is real, and it hurts everyone.
If there were legitimated classes or rehabilitative programs in prisons, they would be packed with people wanting to participate. But sitting in a room with a “teacher” that knows nothing, teaches nothing, and just collecting a check – is not appealing or helpful
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Studying mathematics while incarcerated isn't easy. Help us make it easier by donating today:
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Have you participated in the Prison Mathematics Project in any capacity? Share your experience below! :) 🦋🪢
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Listen to Prison Mathematics Project volunteer Nolan Adams: "There are roughly 45,000 collateral consequences associated with a felony conviction."
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$140 USD raised so far! Can we get that to $200? Check out our Winter Holiday fundraiser here: ❄️☃️❄️
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"I'm always impressed with the people I've been able to interact with and how much of their time they willingly give. I've found myself more willing to mentor others around me. It seems like a good way to return the favor and I like the symmetry of it."
Bill Keehn, participant
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We are back after a holiday hiatus! Stay tuned for more math content!
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Studying mathematics is already hard - now try doing it in prison. Help make it easier by donating today:
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Seattle area! Come listen to a talk about restorative justice by one of our former Prison Math Project participants, Marshall Byers! It's happening Tuesday April 30th :)
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VOLUNTEER: There are a ton of other administrative and social media responsibilities we need urgent help with. Take a look here! Your skills could shine.
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Multiple people wrote to us to say how much they loved Mathematics for Human Flourishing by
@mathyawp
! This review was written by Jaroy Gilmer at FCI Fort Dix.
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If you’d like to help us achieve our mission of reducing recidivism through math consider donating to our holiday fundraiser:
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"I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time mentoring Allen through PMP. We are currently working on Algebra 1 and 2 topics, and have been focusing on solving algebraic equations," says PMP mentor Micah Swartz. His mentee Allen has "been absolutely crushing it."
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HAPPY 🥧 DAY!
ANNOUNCEMENT 🥧: Our π Day fundraiser!! Every March 14th we go to different prisons in the USA to spread the joy of mathematics (with pie)! Any donation helps :)
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PMP is excited to announce that it's almost that time of year again! Be there or be square!
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Episode 5 of the Prison Math Project Podcast just came out everyone!
It's very exciting to again hear from Ruth and Marshall first-hand about the power that PMP has to change lives, and they discuss everything from math anxiety to quantum mechanics! Enjoy!
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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! A reminder you can always do some charitable giving to spread the holiday spirit this year :3
It's our ❄️💠🩵WINTER 💠❄️☃️ Holiday fundraiser! We need your donations 🪙 to keep bringing math to incarcerated people. This is the season where we raise enough money to cover mailing costs, π days, and paying our single employee. Support our work today!
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