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 Director
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What about prisons? – Georgia Redistricting Video

In this video clip, Linda Meggers explains to Georgia City Attorneys how to avoid prison-based gerrymandering.

by Peter Wagner, June 20, 2011

On April 25, Linda Meggers, the former director of the Georgia Reapportionment Services Unit, gave a presentation at the Georgia Municipal Association training session on Redistricting Mechanics. She reviewed the relevant state and federal law, including a detailed discussion of the Voting Rights Act in her briefing for city officials.

The very first question asked at the session was: “What about prisons?” Linda Meggers’ excellent answer about how and why to adjust the Census and avoid prison-based gerrymandering is in the clip below:

City officials who need assistance identifying prison populations in the redistricting data may find our Correctional Facility Locator, or the shapefile we made from the Census Bureau’s Advance Group Quarters Summary File helpful.



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