WHMP covers prison gerrymandering in Massachusetts

Aleks Kajstura joined Bill Newman on WHMP to talk about how prison gerrymandering skews democracy in Massachusetts

by Aleks Kajstura, December 20, 2013

I joined Bill Newman for a segment on his WHMP show yesterday to talk about how prison gerrymandering skews democracy in Massachusetts.

I explained how the Census Bureau’s method of counting incarcerated people (at the location of the prison rather than where they reside) gives extra political clout to people who happen to live near jails or prisons.

Although each town and the state can take action on its own to solve the problem, a change at the Census Bureau would efficiently end prison gerrymandering across the country as well as in Massachusetts’ town meetings and at the State’s House and Senate. So Massachusetts is currently considering a resolution (S 309) calling on the Census Bureau to count incarcerated people at their home address.

The Census Bureau has asked the states for feedback on its data; it’s time for Massachusetts to let them know we want to end prison gerrymandering.