Advocates Commend Census Bureau for Enhancing States’ Access to Data on Prison Populations in 2010 Census

Census Bureau commits to a new data product that will enable states and counties to avoid prison-based gerrymandering.

February 10, 2010

For Immediate Release
February 10, 2010

Bureau’s Action Is First Step Toward Ending Prison-Based Gerrymandering

Contact:
Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, Brennan Center for Justice, (212) 998-6289, jeanine.plant-chirlin@nyu.edu
Tim Rusch, Demos, (212) 389-1407, trusch@demos.org
Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative (413) 527-0845

New York, NY— This week, the Census Bureau has agreed to produce a new data product that will assist state and local governments in avoiding prison-based gerrymandering, whereby districts that contain prisons are given extra representation in the legislature. The move was commended by a national network of advocates working to reform state redistricting practices, including the Prison Policy Initiative, Demos, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), and The National Coalition.

Report on prison-based gerrymandering in Illinois released

A new report on prison-based gerrymandering in Illinois examines how the Census Bureau's prison miscount harms democracy in the state and county government.

February 2, 2010

Census Bureau counts Illinois prisoners in wrong place; access to democracy distorted

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The 2010 Census is rapidly approaching, but an old error threatens the count, charges a new report by the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative. The report, Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Illinois, explains that the U.S. Census counts people incarcerated in state and federal prisons as residents of the prison location, and that creates big problems for democracy at both the state and local level. “Crediting Chicago’s population to downstate prisons changes the balance of power in Illinois and within rural counties,” said Executive Director and report co-author Peter Wagner.

Census Bureau counts Massachusetts prisoners in wrong place; access to democracy distorted

Report finds that crediting prisoners to the prison towns leads to unequal distributions of political power within Massachusetts.

October 8, 2009

The 2010 Census is rapidly approaching, but an old error threatens the count, charges a new report by the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative. The report explains that the U.S. Census counts state and federal prisoners as residents of the prison location, and that creates big problems for democracy in Massachusetts. Crediting prisoners to the prison towns leads to unequal distributions of political power within the state.

Under Massachusetts law prisoners — who can’t vote — are legal residents of their pre-incarceration homes. The Census Bureau counts these people in the wrong spot, and that will create a big problem when the state next updates its legislative districts after the 2010 Census. Legislative districts must be updated each decade to ensure that each district contains the same number of residents.

The report states that five Massachusetts House districts meet federal minimum population requirements only because they include incarcerated people as local residents. In these five districts, the presence of the prisons in the Census data enables every group of 95 residents near the prisons to claim as much political power in the State House as each group of 100 residents elsewhere. By using Census Bureau counts of prison populations to pad out legislative districts with prisons, Massachusetts is inflating the votes of residents who live near prisons in violation of the Supreme Court’s “one person one vote” rule.

“How the Census counts people in prison is a little understood or noticed problem,” said report author Elena Lavarreda, “but it’s important that the public know how the Census is diluting their votes.”

The report focuses on the harm to democracy caused by the 2000 Census, but warns that the Census Bureau intends to repeat the mistake of 2000. According to executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, Peter Wagner, “The next Census is in 6 months, so unless the state acts fast, democracy will have to wait until the 2020 Census.”

The report, “Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Massachusetts”, is available at http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/ma/

Census Bureau counts Oklahoma prisoners in wrong place; Access to state and county government distorted

Report finds 7 Okla. House districts meet federal minimum population requirements only because prison inmates are used to pad the districts' populations.

September 25, 2009

The federal Census counts prisoners as part of the local population, and that creates big problems for state and local government, charges a new report by the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative.

“Governments rely on the Census to count the population so they can update legislative districts,” said Prison Policy Initiative Executive Director and report co-author Peter Wagner. The Supreme Court’s “One Person One Vote” rule requires that legislative districts each contain the same number of people, so that each person has the same access to government.

Where prisoners are counted is a particularly acute problem in Oklahoma. “Oklahoma incarcerates a greater portion of its population than 46 other states, so crediting prisoners to the wrong communities has staggering effects on democracy,” said report co-author Elena Lavarreda.[1]

The report finds that 7 House districts meet federal minimum population requirements only because prison inmates are included in the count. By using Census Bureau counts of prison populations to pad out legislative districts, Oklahoma is inflating the votes of residents who live near prisons in violation of the Supreme Court’s “one person one vote” rule.

“The problem is even larger in some rural county board districts,” said Wagner. The report, Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Oklahoma, finds rural county districts that are as much as 46% prisoners. “This allows the real residents of a district with a prison to unfairly dominate their county government.”

The report identifies 16 counties where prison populations have a large impact on democracy in county government, and applauds Greer County for rejecting the flawed Census counts and drawing districts without regard to the prison miscount.

The report calls on Oklahoma to lobby the Census Bureau to change how prisoners are counted in the future and to develop state solutions to protect the restricting process after the 2010 Census.

The report, “Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Oklahoma”, is available at http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/ok/

International Committee Urged to Scrutinize U.S. Census Practices That Dilute Vote of Minority Populations

Census Bureau’s counting of prisoners in their districts of incarceration rather than their home districts leads to violation of international treaty.

December 13, 2007

International Treaty Violation Also Cited

NEW YORK, Dec. 13 — The United States Census practice of counting prisoners in their districts of incarceration rather than their home districts for the purpose of establishing electoral and Congressional representation is a violation of international treaty. This month, the non-partisan public policy and advocacy centers Demos and the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) submitted their analysis to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva.

Senator Schneiderman, the Prison Policy Initiative and Other Elected Officials and Advocates Call on Census to Count Prisoners in Their Home Communities

Senator Schneiderman and other elected officials announce national letter-writing campaign to urge Census Bureau policy change on prison population count.

October 18, 2007

Announce National Letter-Writing Campaign to Urge Policy Change

For Immediate Release:
October 18, 2007
Contact: Michael Meade 646-522-8601
Peter Wagner (413) 527-0845

Today, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative, State Senators Eric Adams and Liz Krueger, Assemblymembers Adriano Espaillat, Micah Kellner, Keith Wright and Adam Clayton Powell, Council Members Robert Jackson, Miguel Martinez, and Melissa Mark Viverito and criminal justice and democracy advocates called on the United States Census Bureau to begin counting prisoners in their home communities, rather than where they are incarcerated. Elected officials and advocates also announced the beginning of a national letter-writing campaign by local elected officials in New York and around the country to urge a change in this policy.

Prisoners in the Census skew county government in New York

Report explains that New York counties violate state constitution by relying on Census data that counts prisoners as residents of the prison location.

July 18, 2007

Contact: Peter Wagner, 413/527-0845

July 18 – The federal Census counts state and federal prisoners as part of the local population, and that creates big problems for county government, charges a new report by the Prison Policy Initiative. The report explains that the Census Bureau wants New York county governments to use its data but counts prisoners as residents of the prison location, which violates the New York State Constitution. Counting prisoners as residents, despite the fact that they can’t vote or participate in the communities where they are incarcerated, leads to unequal distributions of political power.

New article from Northwestern University Law School demonstrates viability of state-based solution to federal failures in decennial census

Census miscount of prisoners skews legislative power across nation, but states can adjust Census data to use actual resident populations in redistricting.

January 3, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Every decade, the Census Bureau counts tens of thousands of Chicagoans incarcerated in state prisons as if they were part of downstate communities, diluting the votes of Chicagoans and distorting how Illinois draws its legislative districts. The next census is less than four years away, and the Census Bureau is resisting calls to start counting prisoners as residents of their legal home addresses.

States are not powerless victims of this misguided census enumeration policy, however, points out a new article in Northwestern University’s prestigious Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Instead, Illinois and other states may legally apportion citizens to reflect their true legal residence rather than the misleading usual residence employed by the Census Bureau.

National Academies report calls for Census Bureau to collect alternative addresses for people in prison

National Academies releases report calling for the Census Bureau to begin collecting the home addresses of incarcerated people.

September 14, 2006

September 14 — The National Research Council of the National Academies today released a report calling for the Census Bureau to begin collecting the home addresses of people in prison and to study whether this alternative address should be used in the Census. The report, authored by leading demographers, statisticians and sociologists, was commissioned by the Census Bureau to reexamine where people should be counted in the Census.