Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: Nebraska
50 State Guide, March 2010
- Sections
- Impact at the local level
- Nebraska law says a prison cell is not a residence
- Solutions
- Additional resources
Prison-based gerrymandering violates the constitutional principle of "One Person, One Vote." The Supreme Court requires districts to be based on equal population in order to give each resident the same access to government. But a longstanding flaw in the Census counts incarcerated people as residents of the prison location, even though they can’t vote and aren’t a part of the surrounding community.
When legislators claim people incarcerated in their districts are legitimate constituents, they award people who live close to the prison more of a say in government than everybody else.
Impact at the local level:
- The construction of the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in Johnson County over the last decade means the County Board of Commissioners must decide between adjusting the Census and giving extra representation to residents who live near the prison. Counting people incarcerated at the prison as if they were residents of Johnson County, will create a district with over half of it's population incarcerated. This would give the actual residents of the district over twice as much influence over county affairs as anyone who lives in the other 2 districts.
Nebraska law says a prison cell is not a residence:
- A prison cell is not a residence in Nebraska because a residence must be the place that you intend to settle permanently, and when absent, that you intend to return to.(R.R.S. Neb. § 32-116.)
Solutions:
- Ideally, the U.S. Census Bureau would change where it counts incarcerated people. They should be counted as residents of their home — not prison — addresses. There is no time for that in 2010, but Nebraska should ask the Census Bureau for this change for 2020.
Additional resources:
- Prison expansion made 56 counties with declining populations appear to be growing in Census 2000, by Peter Wagner, April 26, 2004
- A list of new large prisons built in Nebraska since the 2000 Census. These prisons are likely to create new prison-based gerrymandering problems after their populations are counted in the 2010 census.
Recommended Reading:
About the Prison Policy Initiative
Learn more about the organization behind the Prison Gerrymandering Project.
The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration
The transfer of Black and Latino incarcerated people to communities very different than their own is a nationwide problem.
How to get elected without being a candidate first.
Iowa Public Radio explores how Anamosa Iowa ended prison gerrymandering.
