Help End Prison Gerrymandering
Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Kentucky
The U.S. Census Bureau counts incarcerated people where they are confined not where they are from. Using these counts to draw state and local legislative districts enhances the weight of a vote cast by people who live near prisons at the expense of everyone else in the state or county.
Fact sheets
Testimony
- Testimony of Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel, Political Participation Group, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., before the Kentucky General Assembly Task Force on Elections, Constitutional Amendments, and Intergovernmental Affairs, August 23, 2011.
- Handout accompanying oral testimony of Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiaitve, before the Kentucky General Assembly Task Force on Elections, Constitutional Amendments, and Intergovernmental Affairs, November 27, 2012.
More information
- Legislation: including model legislation, current bills, and archive of past legislative efforts
- Pathfinder: a guide to resources on prison gerrymandering
- Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: Kentucky - background information on prison-based gerrymandering in Kentucky, prepared in March 2010.
Press coverage
- Proposal could dramatically alter district boundaries, Marion Taylor, Oldhan Era, June 30, 2011.
Recommended Reading:
About the Prison Policy Initiative
Learn more about the organization behind the Prison Gerrymandering Project.
In prisons, Blacks and Latinos do the time while Whites get the jobs
We explore the racial disparity inside prisons.
Rome NY ends prison gerrymandering, Census Bureau can do better
Rome finally corrected the problem of prison gerrymandering within its borders; other cities and counties need the Census Bureau's help.
Prison-based gerrymandering's historical precedent
This is not the first time a policy barred people of color from the polls and transferred their political power to white voters.