Some states confront 'prison gerrymandering' as they redraw district lines
More than a dozen states are changing how they factor incarcerated Americans in redistricting maps this year, unwinding a longstanding practice that critics call “prison gerrymandering.”
The changes were spurred by state and national advocacy over concerns on how mass incarceration and the increasingly partisan process of drawing political district lines for elections was affecting people of color in state and local elections, and research that helped indicate how much communities of color were losing because of these changes.
"When you have people sharing their stories about what it feels like to have your body counted to inflate the vote of prison staff who honestly might be abusing you on any given day, to hurt your family and community's representation back home is just so emotional and really moving," said Villanova University Professor Brianna Remster, who has studied the effects of this practice on states. "People sharing their stories is really what got lots of folks thinking about it."
The U.S. Census counts Americans at “their usual residence,” which for the nation’s more than 2 million incarcerated people is the address of their prison facility. Before 2000, the number of people behind bars was statistically small enough that had little effect on redistricting. But in the last decade, criminal justice advocates, election experts, and researchers say, growing prison populations — disproportionately people of color — are increasingly affecting and undermining the fairness of state and local redistricting and elections.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/states-rethink-prison-gerrymandering-2020-redistricting-process-n1282677
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