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.

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Prison-based gerrymandering threatens more Wisconsin governments

Cities in Wisconsin face drawing districts with no actual residents, just prison population. More Wis. fact sheets available.

by Aleks Kajstura, March 29, 2011

More potential for prison-based gerrymandering problems was found in local governments across Wisconsin; fact sheets are now available for Crawford County and the cities of Appleton, Kenosha, New Lisbon, Prairie du Chien, Portage, Racine, Stanley and Waukesha.

The cities of Stanley and New Lisbon are both facing the prospect of having an Aldermanic ward with no actual residents. This problem is created because the population of the prisons located in the cities is larger than any one of their wards. Our Wisconsin campaign page has more background on prison-based gerrymandering issues in Wisconsin and a complete list of fact sheets available for the state.

Related briefings:

  1. Wisconsin fact sheets updated for coming redistricting +
  2. Wisconsin organizing materials added +
  3. Wisconsin sees dramatic prison-based gerrymandering in new state, county, city districts +

One response:

  1. Wisconsinites buoyed by Supreme Court ruling on prison-based gerrymandering | Prisoners of the Census says:
    July 9, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    […] districts on both the state and local levels, but the the effects are especially dramatic in city and county governments. 80% of the people counted in one Juneau County district, for example, is behind bars. That means […]

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