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The impact on local democracy
Rural residents who live in the same community as a prison, but not in its district, have their voting power severely diluted. Many communities across the nation have taken the initiative to correct the problem themselves by manually correcting flawed Census data. Four states (Colorado, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia) encourage or even require counties to exclude prison populations from county level redistricting.
The best introduction to the impact of the prison miscount on local government is a letter that three residents of rural Franklin County, New York, sent to the Census Bureau in 2004.
We've identified prison-based gerrymandering within counties, cities and towns, and even one school district:
Counties
- Illinois counties with prison-based gerrymandering: Lee, Clinton, Rock Island, Vermilion and Will
- New York. Counties with prison-based gerrymandering: Chautauqua, Chenango, Columbia, Erie, Fulton, Jefferson, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Oneida, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Ulster, Wayne, and Westchester.
- Prisoners: North County Residents? is an interesting radio piece that compares two neighboring counties, one that includes the prisoners and one that excludes them. By David Sommerstein, North County Public Radio (New York), March 5, 2004 (transcript)
- Oklahoma. Counties with prison-based gerrymandering: Alfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Craig, Hughes, Jefferson, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Osage, Pittsburg, Woods, and Woodward.
- Tennessee. Counties with prison-based gerrymandering: Bledsoe, Davidson, Hardeman, Hickman, Johnson, Lake, Lauderdale, Morgan, Tipton, and Wayne.
- Wisconsin. Counties with prison-based gerrymandering: Adams, Brown, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jackson, Racine, Sheboygan, Winnebago.
Cities and Towns
- Indiana: Terre Haute
- New York: New York City
- Ohio: Mansfield, Marion, Marysville and Youngstown
- Wisconsin: Fitchburg, Franklin and Waupun
School district:
If the town or city you are interested in does not appear on the above lists, it may be on our list of places that draw fair districts by excluding the prison population. You can also use the step-by-step guide in our Democracy Toolkit to look for prison-based gerrymandering yourself.
Stay informed
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Speaking engagements
- March 14, 2010: Peter Wagner will be talking about prison-based gerrymandering on WVKR 91.3FM (Poughkeepsie NY) at 3:30pm.
- March 16, 2010: We'll be doing a briefing about prison-based gerrymandering in New York by conference call at 11am EST. Join us. More info.
- March 24, 2010: We'll be doing a National briefing about prison-based gerrymandering by conference call at 11am EST. Join us. More info.
- March 25-28, 2010: Peter Wagner will be attending the National Redistricting Seminar in Austin, Texas organized by the National Conference of State Legislatures
- April 1, 2010: Peter Wagner will be speaking about the U.S. Census, mass-incarceration and prison-based gerrymandering at Smith College, Seeyle 206 in Northampton Mass at 6:30pm.
Not near you? Invite Peter to your town.
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