Read: NCSL Report and Recommendations on State Inmate Reallocation Efforts During the 2020 Redistricting Cycle.

Read: NCSL Report and Recommendations on State Inmate Reallocation Efforts During the 2020 Redistricting Cycle.

By EditorApr 17, 2023
The number of states that reallocate (reassign) prisoners/inmates for redistricting has grown from just 2 during the 2010 redistricting cycle to 13 states in this 2020 cycle. They are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington. The goal of this process is to remove or mitigate distortions in district populations that are caused by correctional facilities that house large numbers of ineligible voters. This entails adjusting census data (which counts inmates where they are physically located) to reflect each inmate's location to be their last known address. The inmate reallocation…
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VA Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Prisoner Reallocation Law

By EditorSep 23, 2021
The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge to a state law that changes how prison inmates are counted for purposes of redistricting. The petition for a writ of mandamus from the court had alleged that the Virginia legislature acted outside of the "prescribed constitutional amendment process" when it enacted statutory criteria regarding the reallocation of prisoners. It argued that while the commission along with other redistricting criteria was created through referendum and constitutional amendments, the prisoner reallocation statute was not and thus violates the state constitution. The petition had asked the state supreme court to prohibit the commission…
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Time.com Article Lays Out the Case for Prison Gerrymandering Reform

Time.com Article Lays Out the Case for Prison Gerrymandering Reform

By EditorJul 05, 2021
Prison Gerrymandering is more an act of omission than commission in that it occurs as a result of the redistricting process unless a jurisdiction acts to reverse it. In the 10 years between the 2010 and 2020 redistricting cycle, nearly a dozen states have committed to rectifying what many advocates say is a distortion in representational rights as a result of counting prisoners as residents of the electoral districts they are incarcerated in as opposed to the districts they resided in prior. Time.com offers this recent article that describes the issue in practical terms and makes the case for nationwide…
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NCSL Overview: Reallocating Incarcerated Persons for Redistricting

NCSL Overview: Reallocating Incarcerated Persons for Redistricting

By EditorMar 17, 2021
In this recent article, the National Conference of State Legislatures gives an overview of the fairly recent practice of prisoner reallocation in redistricting. This process refers to counting prisoners at their home address for redistricting purposes instead of the prison's address - which is what the census does. Prisoner reallocation involves obtaining records from prison officials and careful adjustment of official census data files. This overview explains the practice and how it relates to representation. Since this article was first published, Illinois became the tenth state to mandate prisoner reallocation beginning in 2030. Feb. 18, 2021: States redistrict their legislative…
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February Redistricting Update

February Redistricting Update

By EditorMar 02, 2021
A recap of developments in redistricting for the last month. If you weren't paying attention, you likely missed a lot of activity in the redistricting realm this February. The biggest news is the first two redistricting lawsuits have been filed in courts even before any line-drawing has begun. Read on for this and other developments from the Census Bureau, California's redistricting commission, and congress. Litigation States have made the preparations to begin the redistricting process but there is no census data available yet to start the task. At least two states are not taking this laying down and have filed…
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Illinois Becomes the 10th State to Count Prisoners at Home for Redistricting

Illinois Becomes the 10th State to Count Prisoners at Home for Redistricting

By EditorFeb 25, 2021
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law on Tuesday a measure that would require state prisoners to be counted at their home address for redistricting beginning in 2030. Illinois joins nine other states with similar provisions, they are California, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington State. The process of counting prisoners at home versus the prison is "prisoner reallocation." Read the Prison Policy Initatives' press release below. For immediate release — On Tuesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed an omnibus criminal justice package that (among several victories) makes Illinois the tenth state to end prison…
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Prison Gerrymandering Decision Halted in Rhode Island

Prison Gerrymandering Decision Halted in Rhode Island

By EditorJun 19, 2016
Cranston, Rhode Island – A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a lower court decision and order to redraw the city’s legislative boundaries pending an appellate hearing. A U.S. District Court had found that the Cranston city ward map violated the equal population mandate required under the U.S. Constitution by including the local (nonvoting) prison population in one of the wards. Thus, an initial “win” for prison gerrymandering advocates has been put on hold. A state chapter of the ACLU initiated the original lawsuit on behalf of 4 Cranston residents. The lower court judge had ordered the City redraw its…
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Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

Lawsuit Alleges Prison Gerrymandering in Florida County

By EditorApr 08, 2015
The ACLU of Florida has launched a salvo against prison gerrymandering. It filed this lawsuit against a Florida county's inclusion of a state prison in its legislative map. The press release is below. March 9, 2015 MIAMI, FL – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed a federal lawsuit challenging an election system in Jefferson County, Florida which counts the inmate population of a state prison in the drawing of district maps. The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, states that by treating the approximately 1,157 inmates at the Jefferson Correctional Institution (JCI)…
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Understanding Prison Gerrymandering and Its Cure: Prisoner Reallocation

Understanding Prison Gerrymandering and Its Cure: Prisoner Reallocation

By EditorApr 08, 2015
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…
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