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
Nevada
- Report: Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Nevada by Peter Wagner, December 15, 2004
- Executive Summary
- Press release: Census Bureau's method of counting prisoners steals political clout from Las Vegas and Reno
- Factsheet and Recommendations
- Appendix A: Incarcerated populations in Nevada Assembly Districts
- Appendix S: Incarcerated populations in Nevada Senate Districts
- For journalists: 300dpi versions of the maps used in this report suitable for use in your publications [ZIP, 120k]. Other formats and sizes available upon request
Previously published materials from the project that discuss Nevada:
- Too big to ignore: How counting people in prisons distorted Census 2000, April 2004 report
- Outdated methodology impairs Census Bureau's count of Black population Fact of the Week, May 3, 2004
- Twenty one counties have twenty one percent of their population in prisons and jails Fact of the Week, April 19, 2004
Coverage
- Census prison count boosts political clout of rural areas, by Kirsten Searer, Las Vegas Sun, December 16, 2004
- Study: Census count of inmates boosts rural Nevada clout. by Associated Press and appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 2004
- Quirk in census counts helps rural Nevada, by KRNV TV-4, December 15, 2004
- Census quirk aids rural counties with prisoners, by Brendan Riley, Associated Press, appeared in the Reno Gazette-Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicle on December 14, 2004; in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on December 17, 2004 and in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza on December 19, 2004
- Something tells us these neighbors exchange something other than recipes, The Hotline, December 17, 2004
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.
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.
Prison-based Gerrymandering in Anamosa, Iowa
How a prison helped one man get elected with just two votes.