Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Ending prison gerrymandering in your community, your state and in the nation
“Voters who come to understand how this system cheats them are unlikely to keep rewarding the politicians who support it.”
Prison-Based Gerrymandering, New York Times editorial, May 20, 2006
State and local governments can end prison gerrymandering on their own, even though the Census Bureau still counts incarcerated people in the wrong place. Already California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington State, and more than 200 cities and counties have taken action to end prison gerrymandering for their own residents. You need to make sure that your leaders seize the opportunity to do the same.
If you live in one of the states listed below, you can join an established campaign:
Don't see your state on the list? More state campaigns are expected to form shortly, but you don't need to wait. You can get the facts about your state and start your own campaign. Or check the list of completed campaigns, below, to see if your state has already passed legislation ending prison gerrymandering. And in either case, join our prison gerrymandering newsletter for breaking news and analysis.
Campaigns centered on rural counties and cities that contain large prisons, where a single large prison can be a large part if not the majority of a district, tend to form quickly and achieve victory even more quickly than state campaigns, so they are not always listed on their respective state pages.
Other resources for launching a campaign in your state or county:
- Local government: You can use our Democracy Toolkit, created to help rural democracy activists determine if prison populations are skewing their current city or county districts. You can check our list of counties and cities that we know have engaged in prison gerrymandering in the past, and those that have not. Contact us if we can help you apply these resources to your local situation.
- State districts: Preventing Prison-Based Gerrymandering: What to Watch For, a guide to tell you what to look for in your state's redistricting data and proposed plans in order to minimize the harm of prison-based gerrymandering. And a guide to ending prison gerrymandering for state legislators, released jointly with SiX. Includes lessons from our previous advocacy, detailed policy recommendations, talking points, and more.
- Changing the Census: Organizations and individuals should respond to any Census Bureau calls for comments. For a sample of some letters sent in 2016 (the last comment period), see our 2016 Federal Register Notice page. A change at the Census Bureau is the best and most efficient solution.
Completed campaigns: States that have ended prison gerrymandering
If you live in one of the states listed below, your state has already passed legislation ending prison gerrymandering and select materials from the campaign can be found for each:
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.
Are legislative maps hurting prison reforms?
Pam Adams explains how in her downstate Illinois column.
Do prisons draw in Census money for their host communities? No.
We explain that prison gerrymandering is bad for democracy but federal & state aid are not impacted.