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
Importing Constituents:
Prisoners and Political Clout in Pennsylvania
by Peter Wagner and Elena Lavarreda
June 26, 2009
- Report: Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Pennsylvania by Peter Wagner and Elena Lavarreda, June 26, 2009
- Press release Census Bureau policy costs urban Pennsylvania political clout in legislature
- Appendix A: Incarcerated populations in Pennsylvania House Districts
- Appendix B: Incarcerated populations in Pennsylvania Senate Districts
- Appendix C: County demographics (2000)
- Appendix D: Incarceration rates for each Pennsylvania county (2000)
Coverage
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Report: Census Prisoner Count Dilutes Urban Political Clout By Amaris Elliott-Engel, The Legal Intelligencer, June 26, 2009 
Prison-based gerrymandering should be abolished, The Daily Review editorial, (Towanda, PA), August 7, 2010
Prison-based gerrymandering should be abolishedRecommended 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.