Some Cranston RI politicians want to claim prisoners as residents for districting purposes. But are they willing to let a prisoner send his daughter to their resident-only schools?
by Peter Wagner,
March 28, 2010
On Monday, March 29, at 3:30 pm, the Cranston School Department will be faced with an unusual request by one of their residents: registering their child for school. Although this may seem like a regular activity, this registration will come from one of the 4000 incarcerated residents of Cranston. One of their current students, Jolina Correa, was recently told she can not return to Cranston’s third grade next year, because her mom is not a city resident. But according to the U.S. Census and some elected officials in the city, her dad is.
Read more.
1st Circuit US Court of Appeals confirms that incarceration does not change a person’s residence, more substantive contacts with a new location are necessary to change domicile.
by Aleks Kajstura,
March 26, 2010
On Wednesday (March 24, 2010), the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man incarcerated in New York because he wasn’t a resident of the state.
One of the rules for federal lawsuits is that they have to be between people of different states; a person is unlikely to be considered a resident of a state if that person’s only connection to the state is being incarcerated there. Hall was trying to sue a New Hampshire resident, so his suit could not go forward if he was also a New Hampshire resident.
Most states have specific residence laws for electoral purposes; incarcerated people retain their home addresses as their official residence even when they are incarcerated across the state, as our new 50 state guide, finds.
These statutes reflect the general American principles of determining where someone resides. In the recent decision, in order to have his case go forward in the court, the incarcerated person bringing the suit had to prove that he was a citizen of New York, where he was incarcerated at Sing Sing prison, although he lived in New Hampshire before his incarceration.
Under generally accepted principles, citizenship is
determined by domicile, which can be established by
demonstrating that the individual is physically present in the
state and has an intent to remain indefinitely.
In cases involving prisoners, the courts presume that
the prisoner remains a citizen of the state where he was
domiciled before his incarceration, even if he is subsequently
incarcerated in a different state.
Hall v. Curran, No. 09-1354, (March 24, 2010, 1st Cir.)
In this case, the prisoner claimed that he had agreed to a civil commitment placement in Sing Sing prison, in New York State. The court, however, held that numerous contacts with the state of incarceration are not enough. Rather, “substantive” contacts are necessary to overcome the presumption that an incarcerated person remains a citizen of the state he lived in before incarceration. The court concluded that being incarcerated in New York was not enough to make Hall a resident of New York, and dismissed the case.
Artist Paul Rucker's new installation, Proliferation, inspired by the map of U.S. Prison Proliferation, 1900-2000 by PPI's Rose Heyer has just been posted in its full version to his website.
by Peter Wagner,
March 25, 2010
Artist Paul Rucker’s new installation, Proliferation, inspired by the map of U.S. Prison Proliferation, 1900-2000 by PPI’s Rose Heyer has just been posted in its full version to his website.
I wrote about prison-based gerrymandering for the liner notes of the in-production DVD version. You can watch the full video online.
Continue reading →
The New York Times cites our newest report, in today's editorial: "A Proper Count of Inmates".
by Peter Wagner,
March 24, 2010
The New York Times cites our newest report, Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: A 50 state guide in today’s editorial: A Proper Count of Inmates.
New 50 state guide released: How the Census Bureau's prison miscount harms democracy, with info on prison residence law and the status of reform efforts.
by Peter Wagner,
March 22, 2010
The 2010 Census will be counting more than 2 million incarcerated people in the wrong place. The laws of most states say that a prison cell is a not a residence, but the Census Bureau assigns incarcerated people to the prison location, not their home addresses. When state and local governments use this data to draw legislative districts, they unconstitutionally enhance the weight of a vote cast in districts that contain prisons and dilute those votes cast in every other district.
Our new 50 state guide, Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census, introduces the problem, the solutions, and provides state-by-state information on how the prison miscount harms state and local democracy, how each state defines residence for incarcerated people, and the status of reform efforts.
Good government group supports Schneiderman/Jeffries bill more accurately aligning state legislative Representatives with their constituents
by Peter Wagner,
March 18, 2010
The New York-based good government group Citizens Union issued this press release announcing its support for the Schneiderman/Jeffries to bill more accurately aligning state legislative representatives with their constituents.
One of the representatives of a district that could lose population if the bill were passed said he didn't see a problem with it.
by Peter Wagner,
March 14, 2010
John Hill of the Providence Journal reports:
A group of Providence legislators have introduced bills that would change how the state counts inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions, allocating them toward the towns they lived in before sentencing rather than as residents of Cranston, the home of the state’s prison complex.
“It’s all about fairness,” said Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, D-Providence, primary sponsor of the house version of the plan. “These folks come from districts around the state and will be returning to them upon release.”
Continue reading →
by Peter Wagner,
March 13, 2010
Neal Peirce has this column in Nation Cities Weekly published by the National League of Cities: How the Census Counts Prisoners: Significant Political Stakes [PDF, page 2].
by Peter Wagner,
March 12, 2010
Bruce Reilly has this report on Tuesday’s hearing in Rhode Island to end prison-based gerrymandering.
The New York Times cites our newest report, 
