Boston Workers Alliance Takes a Stand Against Prison-Based Gerrymandering

The Boston Workers Alliance has released a resolution to end prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts.

by Leah Sakala, July 14, 2011

The movement to demand fair redistricting in Massachusetts is growing fast.

The Boston Workers Alliance has released a resolution with both short- and long-term plans to end prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts.

Using the video we recently released on how to avoid prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts, the Boston Workers Alliance calls on the Massachusetts Legislature to use the allowable 5% deviation from the ideal district size to compensate for the distortion caused by prison-based gerrymandering. They further resolve that there be legislative amendment that ends prison-based gerrymandering in the state by the 2020 Census, and urge the Census Bureau to count incarcerated populations at home in the first place.

They conclude:

That the socio-political, economic and existential implications and consequences of prison-based [gerrymandering] on the inmates’ family, community and the larger society regarding public safety, human dignity and human flourishing should fundamentally inform this process of ending prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts since it negates the pristine democratic principles of the American Constitution and the democratic process, thus necessitating an end to prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts as the states of New York, Maryland and Delaware have enacted.

Our hats go off to the Boston Workers Alliance for their leadership in the movement to end prison-based gerrymandering in Massachusetts.