Census Bureau Takes First Step To End Prison-Based Gerrymandering

New York, NY--This week, the Census Bureau has agreed to produce a new data product that will assist state and local governments in avoiding prison-based gerrymandering, whereby districts that contain prisons are given extra representation in the legislature. The move was commended by a national network of advocates working to reform state redistricting practices, including the Prison Policy Initiative, Demos, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), and The National Coalition.

Under most state constitutions and election law statutes, a prison cell is not a residence, but existing Census Bureau practices count incarcerated people as residents of the prison location. In the past, states and counties that wished to correct this overrepresentation of districts with prisons have received little support from the Census Bureau, as the Bureau has traditionally published the prison populations at the census block level long after redistricting is underway or completed.

According to an agreement reached by Census Director Robert Groves and Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, Jr., Chairman of the House Committee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, for the first time the Census Bureau has now agreed to identify which census blocks contain group quarters such as correctional facilities early enough so that state and local redistricting bodies can choose to use this data to draw fair districts.

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