Prisoners and the 2012 Redistricting Cycle

Long overlooked in the context of redistricting, prisoners are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as residents of the institutions they are incarcerated in. The goal of redistricting electoral boundaries at the state and local levels is to create equally populated districts that ensure every voter's vote has equal weight in an election. A consensus has been building over the years that large prison populations counted by the Census Bureau in this way, confounds these goals.

While the Census Bureau has not changed its counting method for prisoners,in response to growing concern by states and advocacy groups, the Bureau has made available detailed census data on prisoners that have allowed states for the first time to consider correcting for the problem of prisoners in redistricting. This article explains the issue and the solutions adopted by some states during this redistricting cycle.

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