Prison Proliferation Audio Video Installation

Artist Paul Rucker's new installation, Proliferation, inspired by the map of U.S. Prison Proliferation, 1900-2000 by PPI's Rose Heyer has just been posted in its full version to his website.

by Peter Wagner, March 25, 2010

Artist Paul Rucker’s new installation, Proliferation, inspired by the map of U.S. Prison Proliferation, 1900-2000 by PPI’s Rose Heyer has just been posted in its full version to his website.

I wrote about prison-based gerrymandering for the liner notes of the in-production DVD version. You can watch the full video online.

A Proper Count of Inmates – NYT Editorial

The New York Times cites our newest report, in today's editorial: "A Proper Count of Inmates".

by Peter Wagner, March 24, 2010

The New York Times cites our newest report, Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: A 50 state guide in today’s editorial: A Proper Count of Inmates.

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.

Census Bureau counts Minnesota’s incarcerated population in the wrong place; access to democracy distorted

New report identifies harm of prison-based gerrymandering in Minnesota.

March 9, 2010

The federal Census counts incarcerated people as if they resided where the prison is located, and that creates big problems for democracy in Minnesota, charges a new report by the non-profit Prison Policy Initiative.

American democracy relies on Census counts to apportion political power on the basis of equal population. By Minnesota law, prisoners can’t vote and remain residents of their home communities. “By relying on Census Bureau counts of prison populations to pad legislative districts with prisons, Minnesota is inflating the votes of residents who live near prisons at the expense of every other resident,” said report author Aleks Kajstura.

“Every decade we redraw our districts. The state uses Census data to redraw its own districts. Using prisons to pad the populations of a small number of districts dilutes the votes of everyone else,” said State Senator Linda Higgins – DFL-Minneapolis. Senator Higgins and Representative Champion are developing legislation to change the way Minnesota uses census data in redistricting.

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.