Prison-based gerrymandering in The American Prospect

Nancy Scola makes a compelling case for prioritizing prison-based gerrymandering on the national agenda.

by Leah Sakala, October 23, 2012

Nancy Scola makes a compelling case for prioritizing prison-based gerrymandering on the national agenda in her new American Prospect piece, “Making Prisoners Count.” She writes:

In an era obsessed with political data—Microtargeting! Swing-state polling! Data.gov!—and in a country where we incarcerate people at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world, thinking through the political counting of prisoners calls for the same enthusiasm, because the way we do it now corrupts the very equations upon which representative democracy is built.

Nancy goes on to explain how the Census Bureau’s practice of counting incarcerated people at prison locations unfairly boosts representation in communities with prisons, drains political power from communities that experience disproportionate incarceration rates, and creates perverse criminal justice policy incentives by giving elected officials a vested interest in expanding the prison industrial complex.

She concludes by observing that this issue is more pressing now than ever:

How the U.S. counts its prisoners might be a historical data quirk, but with the U.S. prison population now counted by the millions, it’s a quirk that skews how representative democracy operates.

Wondering how the Census Bureau’s prison count skews your vote? Check out our research results about your state or local government. Then take action and join us in solving the problem.

Calif. Governor signs bill to improve law ending prison-based gerrymandering

by Aleks Kajstura, September 14, 2012

The governor of California just signed a bill (AB 1986) into law that improves California’s historic law ending prison based gerrymandering.

The LA Times has some coverage of the new bill along with some of the other bills signed.

Valley Advocate: Lawmakers look at fixing Massachusetts’ “representation without population” problem

Western Massachusetts newspaper reports that state lawmakers are looking for ways to end prison-based gerrymandering.

by Peter Wagner, July 27, 2012

Massachusetts is headed in the right direction towards ending prison-based gerrymandering, reports a new feature in the Valley Advocate.

“The way the Census Bureau counts people in prison creates significant problems for democracy and for our nation’s future,” in the words of the Prison Policy Initiative, a think tank based in Easthampton. This “prison-based gerrymandering,” PPI says, “leads to a dramatic distortion of representation at local and state levels, and creates an inaccurate picture of community populations for research and planning purposes.”

PPI and other groups have been pushing to change that system for years, and it appears they now have some powerful allies on their side—among them, state Sen. Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst), the Senate’s president pro tempore and co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Redistricting. “The whole point of redistricting and the whole point of our system is, we all have equal representation,” Rosenberg told the Advocate. By counting incarcerated people who, by law, are not able to vote in the districts where they’re locked up, he explains, “you are creating disproportionate voting power in those districts among those people who are eligible to vote.” In light of that inequity, Rosenberg said, it just makes sense for the census to change the way it counts prisoners.

Read the rest of the great article on newsstands throughout Western Massachusetts this week or on the Valley Advocate’s website: Prisoners Count: Lawmakers look at fixing Massachusetts’ “representation without population” problem.

US Supreme Court decision boosts Illinois efforts to end prison-based gerrymandering

In the next legislative session Rep. La Shawn K. Ford will reintroduce legislation to count incarcerated people at home for redistricting purposes.

by Leah Sakala, July 24, 2012

Representative La Shawn K. Ford

The days of prison-based gerrymandering may be numbered in Illinois.

This morning, Illinois State Representative La Shawn K. Ford announced that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Maryland’s law ending prison-based gerrymandering reaffirms his proposed legislation to count incarcerated people at home for state and local redistricting purposes in Illinois:

“My bill, and the one passed by Maryland, represent state-based solutions to a long- standing problem in the federal Census. The federal census counts people in prison as residents of the prison location, even though they can’t vote and remain residents of their homes for all other legal purposes,” said Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago).

The Illinois bill introduced by Rep. Ford, HB 94 made it all the way to a floor vote last year. Rep. Ford expects to re-introduce legislation in the next session of the Illinois General Assembly. New York, Delaware and California have already passed similar laws.

Rep. Ford’s bill would adjust redistricting data to count incarcerated people where they live. The bill applies to state, county, and municipal redistricting data, ensuring that prison populations are not used to skew political power in state or local government. Such changes to redistricting data have no affect on the distribution of federal funds.

“Representative Ford has been advocating for an end to prison-based gerrymandering long before the problem was on the national radar. The Supreme Court has given a green light to Rep. Ford’s bill to end prison-based gerrymandering in Illinois,” said Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative and the nation’s leading expert on how the Census Bureau’s practice of counting incarcerated people as residents of the prison locations harms the democratic process.

Ending prison-based gerrymandering in Illinois would be beneficial to every resident who does not live next to a large prison, and Rep. Ford’s legislation has the support of a strong local coalition.

With all the pieces in place, and with the support of the landmark Supreme Court decision, prospects look good for Illinois to join the growing list of states that have put an end to the practice of prison-based gerrymandering.

Washington Post op-ed published

"An End to 'Prison-Based Gerrymandering'" explains what our victory in the Supreme Court means for the national movement to end this repugnant practice.

by Peter Wagner, July 14, 2012

Tomorrow, the Washington Post will run my op-ed Beginning of the end for ‘prison-based gerrymandering’. The piece reviews last month’s Supreme Court ruling that summarily affirmed Maryland’s “No Representation Without Population Act” that counts incarcerated people as residents of their home addresses for redistricting purposes. This decision gives the green light to states to eliminate the repugnant practice of prison-based gerrymandering.

The op-ed is already online.

Baltimore’s AFRO covers US Supreme Court’s stand against prison-based gerrymandering

Maria Morales writes on the civil rights victory that was won when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Maryland's law ending prison-based gerrymandering.

by Leah Sakala, July 5, 2012

The AFRO recently published a great piece by Maria Morales about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to uphold Maryland’s law ending prison-based gerrymandering.

The article reports that the ruling in Fletcher v. Lamone was a major victory for the civil rights community. As Ajmel Quereshi of the Howard University Law School’s Civil Rights Clinic points out, the practice of prison-based gerrymandering was,

one of the discriminatory ways laws impact the minority community not only at the front end with the disproportionate number of incarcerated African Americans, but it affects inner-city minority communities on the back end with redistricting.

The article also explains that relying on unadjusted Census Bureau redistricting data can stymie efforts to create effective majority-minority districts. Somerset County is one of the clearest examples, where counting the disproportionately African American prison population within the country split the real African American population between two different districts. With the African American voters too dispersed between districts to elect the candidate of their choice, not once in the county’s history had an African American been elected to office. Now that incarcerated people are counted at their home addresses for redistricting purposes, Marylanders can draw districts that more accurately reflect the communities they contain.

The article points out that the Supreme Court’s decision bodes well for efforts to end prison-based gerrymandering in other states. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Illinois, Oregon, and New Jersey may be the next states to pass similar legislation. With the endorsement of the highest court in the nation, Maryland is leading the way!

Most recent Fletcher v. Lamone documents available online

New court documents are now available from the Fletcher v. Lamone case, which seeks to overturn the Maryland law ending prison-based gerrymandering.

by Leah Sakala, May 30, 2012

I’ve just updated our Fletcher v. Lamone page with the defendants’ Motion to Affirm. The plaintiffs in this case want to roll back a major civil rights victory in the state of Maryland by seeking to overturn the 2010 law ending prison-based gerrymandering.

A federal three-judge panel unanimously rejected the lawsuit in December, and the plaintiffs are now seeking to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will decide whether or not to take the case in about a month.

Last chance to vote for Peter Wagner to receive the Maria Leavey Tribute Award!

Please vote for Peter Wagner to receive the Maria Leavey Award to honor his decade of work to end prison-based gerrymandering.

by Leah Sakala, May 14, 2012

Today is the last day to cast your vote for Peter Wagner to receive the Maria Leavey Tribute Award for his decade-long work to end prison-based gerrymandering. Campaign for America’s Future presents this award annually to honor an “unsung progressive hero.”

Peter was chosen as a finalist for the award in recognition of his leadership in the movement to abolish prison-based gerrymandering. Our friend and advisory board member Bruce Reilly wrote a great blog post that explains why he voted for Peter and why you should, too.

Thanks for your support, and for sending the message that prison-based gerrymandering must end.

Terre Haute City Council to vote on ending prison-based gerrymandering

The Tribune Star reports that Council is considering a resolution to exclude the prison population for redistricting purposes.

by Leah Sakala, May 7, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I blogged that Terre Haute, Indiana is considering ending prison-based gerrymandering. A recent Tribune Star story reports that this week the City Council may vote on a resolution to remove the prison population from District 1 for redistricting purposes. Stay tuned for more updates!

Speaking about prison-based gerrymandering at Manning Marable Memorial Conference in NYC

Peter Wagner be in NYC to speak about prison-based gerrymandering on Saturday at Columbia University.

by Peter Wagner, April 26, 2012

I’ll be speaking about prison-based gerrymandering and then moderating a roundtable discussion with Students Against Mass Incarceration on Saturday at the A New Vision of Black Freedom: The Manning Marable Memorial Conference at Columbia University in New York City. My session starts at 10am in the Earl Hall Auditorium.

This conference is particularly important to me because of the role that Manning Marable played in starting the movement against prison-based gerrymandering. As I wrote when he passed away:

Manning Marable helped put what we now call prison-based gerrymandering on the map by inviting me to meetings at his Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in 2002 and to speak at the main plenary panel at the Africana Studies Against Criminal Injustice Conference in 2003. His early endorsement made our later successes possible.

If you will be in NYC this weekend, I hope to see you at the conference and at my talk!