Yeesh! (Credit: prisonersofthecensus.org)

In a rare victory for lovers of democracy and redistricting reform, New York State just declared prisoners to be legal residents of their pre-prison addresses. For too long, upstate New York has been overrepresented, due to the sheer number of prison cells located in the region.

 

It is no secret that most prisoners come from urban downstate areas, taking away much needed representation from the State’s underserved and mostly minority populations.

 

98% of New York’s prison cells are in white, Republican Senate districts, according to Peter Wagner of Prisoners of the Census. The prisoners often come from minority, Democratic Senate districts. With 46,003 inmates spread out across several state prisons, it is doubtful that an entire district will be gained or lost, but the practice still violates the 14th amendment (Section I and II) and the one man one vote principle.

 

In addition, prisoners incarcerated in New York State cannot vote, so upstate districts have been getting more representation from nonvoters, while downstate districts have been losing representation AND voting citizens.

 

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  • Leah Sakala

    Thanks for covering this important issue!

    I just wanted to offer a clarification about an issue that’s come up several times in recent press coverage: New York state passed legislation requiring that incarcerated people be counted at home for redistricting purposes back in 2010; but the recent “news” is the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the law and the fact that the Senate has stopped refusing to implement the law. Only in hyper-partisan New York would agreeing to follow the law be considered big news…

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