Help End Prison Gerrymandering
Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
New York Senate Bill 2754
This is the bill text as downloaded on May 2, 2006 to include the December 2005 amendment. If anyone knows how to permanently link to New York bills, please let me know.-Peter Wagner
STATUS:
S2754 SCHNEIDERMAN
Election Law
TITLE....Directs the state board of elections to obtain residential data on incarcerated persons to be used in creating congressional, assembly, and senate districts
02/25/05
REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
12/16/05
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO ELECTIONS
12/16/05
PRINT NUMBER 2754A
01/04/06
REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
SUMMARY:
SCHNEIDERMAN
Add S3-112, El L
Directs the state board of elections to obtain residential data on incarcerated persons to be used in creating congressional, assembly, and senate districts on the basis of their residence prior to incarceration, as required by law.
BILL TEXT:
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2754--A
2005-2006 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 25, 2005
___________
Introduced by Sens. SCHNEIDERMAN, DILAN, DUANE, GONZALEZ, HASSELL-THOMP-
SON, KRUEGER, MONTGOMERY, ONORATO, OPPENHEIMER, PARKER, SAMPSON,
SERRANO, A. SMITH, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the residential classi-
fication of certain incarcerated persons
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislature notes that section 4 of article II of the
2 constitution provides in pertinent part as follows: "§ 4. For the
3 purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a
4 residence...while confined in any public prison." Likewise, subdivision
5 1 of section 5-104 of the election law provides in pertinent part as
6 follows: "For the purpose of registering and voting no person shall be
7 deemed to have gained or lost a residence...while confined in any public
8 prison."
9 Despite these provisions, investigation has shown that many incarcer-
10 ated persons are being classified for purposes of residency as residents
11 of their places of incarceration rather than as residents of their plac-
12 es of residence prior to incarceration. The provisions of this act are
13 necessary to provide procedures and duties to correct these errors.
14 § 2. The election law is amended by adding a new section 3-112 to read
15 as follows:
16 § 3-112. Prisoner census adjustment. 1. The provisions of this section
17 shall apply only to, and the information obtained pursuant to this
18 section shall be used in, the creation of congressional, assembly,
19 senate, and county legislative body districts.
20 2. Not later than the next September first following the date on
21 which the tract-level population counts for this state from the federal
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09283-03-5
S. 2754--A 2
1 decennial census are released by the director of the bureau of the
2 census of the United States department of commerce, the state board of
3 elections shall prepare and disseminate adjusted population counts for
4 each geographic unit included in the census counts as provided by this
5 section.
6 3. (a) Not later than June first of the year in which the federal
7 decennial census is conducted, each state agency and local governmental
8 entity in this state that operates a facility for the incarceration of
9 persons convicted of a criminal offense, including a mental health
10 institution for those persons, or that places any person convicted of a
11 criminal offense in a private facility to be incarcerated on behalf of
12 the state agency or governmental entity, shall submit a report to the
13 state board of elections with the following information:
14 (1) The name of each person incarcerated in a facility operated by the
15 state agency, governmental entity, or in a private facility on behalf of
16 the state agency or governmental entity on the date for which the census
17 reports population who completed a census form, responded to a census
18 inquiry, or was included in any report provided to census officials, if
19 the form, response, or report indicated that the person resided at the
20 facility on that date.
21 (2) The age, sex, and race of each person included in the report.
22 (3) The last address at which the person resided before the person's
23 current incarceration.
24 (b) Each governmental entity required to make a report under paragraph
25 (a) of this subdivision shall ensure that it collects and maintains the
26 information required to make the report.
27 4. The state board of elections shall request each agency that oper-
28 ates a federal facility in this state that incarcerates persons
29 convicted of a criminal offense to provide the state board of elections
30 with a report including the information listed in paragraph (a) of
31 subdivision three of this section for persons convicted of an offense in
32 this state.
33 5. For each person included in a report received under subdivisions
34 three and four of this section, the state board of elections shall
35 determine the geographic units for which population counts are reported
36 in the federal decennial census that contain the last address at which
37 the person resided before the person's incarceration according to the
38 report and, if that address is in this state:
39 (a) Adjust all relevant population counts reported in the census,
40 including populations by age, sex, and race, as if the person resided at
41 that address on the day for which the census reports population.
42 (b) Eliminate the person from all applicable population counts
43 reported in the federal decennial census for the geographic units that
44 include the facility at which the person was incarcerated on the day for
45 which the census reports population.
46 6. Upon the completion of the compilation of the information required
47 pursuant to this section, the state board of elections shall promptly
48 make a report thereof available to the legislative task force on demo-
49 graphic research and reapportionment, all local boards of election, all
50 county legislative bodies, and the public. The legislative task force
51 on demographic research and reapportionment shall utilize such informa-
52 tion in the creation of congressional, assembly, and senate districts.
53 All county legislative bodies shall utilize such information in the
54 creation of county legislative body districts.
55 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
Recommended Reading:
About the Prison Policy Initiative
Learn more about the organization behind the Prison Gerrymandering Project.
The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration
The transfer of Black and Latino incarcerated people to communities very different than their own is a nationwide problem.
Are legislative maps hurting prison reforms?
Pam Adams explains how in her downstate Illinois column.
Do prisons draw in Census money for their host communities? No.
We explain that prison gerrymandering is bad for democracy but federal & state aid are not impacted.