50-state guide to “Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census”

New 50 state guide released: How the Census Bureau's prison miscount harms democracy, with info on prison residence law and the status of reform efforts.

by Peter Wagner, March 22, 2010

The 2010 Census will be counting more than 2 million incarcerated people in the wrong place. The laws of most states say that a prison cell is a not a residence, but the Census Bureau assigns incarcerated people to the prison location, not their home addresses. When state and local governments use this data to draw legislative districts, they unconstitutionally enhance the weight of a vote cast in districts that contain prisons and dilute those votes cast in every other district.

Our new 50 state guide, Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census, introduces the problem, the solutions, and provides state-by-state information on how the prison miscount harms state and local democracy, how each state defines residence for incarcerated people, and the status of reform efforts.

Citizens Union Backs Bill To Count Prisoners At Former Place Of Residence For Redistricting Purposes

Good government group supports Schneiderman/Jeffries bill more accurately aligning state legislative Representatives with their constituents

by Peter Wagner, March 18, 2010

The New York-based good government group Citizens Union issued this press release announcing its support for the Schneiderman/Jeffries to bill more accurately aligning state legislative representatives with their constituents.

RI seeks to change how jail inmates counted for residency

One of the representatives of a district that could lose population if the bill were passed said he didn't see a problem with it.

by Peter Wagner, March 14, 2010

John Hill of the Providence Journal reports:

A group of Providence legislators have introduced bills that would change how the state counts inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions, allocating them toward the towns they lived in before sentencing rather than as residents of Cranston, the home of the state’s prison complex.

“It’s all about fairness,” said Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, D-Providence, primary sponsor of the house version of the plan. “These folks come from districts around the state and will be returning to them upon release.”

Nation Cities Weekly: Big stakes in prison count

by Peter Wagner, March 13, 2010

Neal Peirce has this column in Nation Cities Weekly published by the National League of Cities: How the Census Counts Prisoners: Significant Political Stakes [PDF, page 2].

Report on Rhode Island hearing on prison-based gerrymandering

by Peter Wagner, March 12, 2010

Bruce Reilly has this report on Tuesday’s hearing in Rhode Island to end prison-based gerrymandering.

Minnesota Post article on our new report

by Peter Wagner, March 9, 2010

Casey Selix writes about our new report, Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Minnesota in the Minnesota Post: Prison-policy study shows how inmate counts yield redistricting clout.

Prison Populations a Big Issue for Census

by Peter Wagner, March 9, 2010

The Census Project Blog has posted my guest blog post: Prison Populations a Big Issue for Census. Check it out.

Census Bureau Director blogs: “So, How do You Handle Prisons?”

Census Bureau Director Robert Groves writes on his blog about how incarcerated people are counted in the Census.

by Peter Wagner, March 2, 2010

Census Bureau Director Robert Groves has a new blog post: So, How do You Handle Prisons? that addresses how the Bureau counts people in prison. He discusses the mechanics of the count, the controversy about where incarcerated people should be counted, and some of the logistical and conceptual challenges to fairly and accurately counting incarcerated people in the right spot.

Times Herald-Record asks: Who gets to count inmates?

Orange County paper addresses the political log-jam that keeps prison-based gerrymandering on the books in New York State.

by Peter Wagner, March 1, 2010

Keith Goldberg writes about the effort to end prison-based gerrymandering in New York State in the Times Herald-Record (Orange County, NY). On Feb 19, the paper’s editorial board said that “a politician should be embarrassed to claim that people held in prisons should count as constituents” and called for the state to pass legislation to end the practice of padding legislative districts with prisons.

The editorial concluded with the pessimistic prediction that a lawsuit would be necessary to end prison-based gerrymandering, and today’s article takes on the legal and political arguments that are holding up reform.

Utica NY paper calls on Sen Griffo & Assemblywoman Destito to oppose prison-based gerrymandering

The Utica New York Observer-Dispatch calls prison-based gerrymandering "absurd" and says their state senator and assemblywoman should support reform bills.

by Peter Wagner, February 26, 2010

The Utica New York Observer-Dispatch, is calling for their state senator and assemblywoman to support S6725/A9834 which would eliminate prison-based gerrymandering in state, county and municipal governments in the state. The paper calls prison-based gerrymandering “absurd” and “wrong”.

Read the editorial: Our view: Don’t count prisoners with voters. Redraw districts following 2010 Census to reflect true constituency published on Feb 26, 2010.

Or their previous coverage:

• 1/2 of Rome ward’s residents are prisoners
  Group says inmates should be excluded when drawing district boundaries, by Jennifer Fusco Feb 18, 2010
• State prisoners could become unlikely political prize Jan 28, 2010
• Our view: Don’t count prisoners as constituents, editorial, January 6, 2010
• Should prisoners count when drawing legislative districts? by Jennifer Fusco, Jan 2, 2010.