Prison-based gerrymandering is the practice of counting prisoners as residents of a particular district, thereby increasing the district's population with non-voters when assigning political apportionment. This practice is particularly problematic in drawing political power and resources away from already under-represented urban areas that prisoners often come from, and re-allocating it to rural districts containing large prisons, despite the fact that prisoners are generally denied the right to vote. This often results in increased political power and resources (ie. funding for education, infrastructure, and other public services) being allocated to conservative rural districts, even though the prisoner "residents" usually come from and return to urban areas.
This practice has attracted attention from the media recently, spurred by former New York Governor David Patterson signing legislation banning prison-based gerrymandering in New York, a policy which the New York Times editorial, "An End to Prison Gerrymandering," says "deserves to be emulated all across the country." For more information on prison-based gerrymandering in practice and potential solutions, check out the important research being conducted by the Prison Policy Initiative.
And be sure to come to the "Structure and Reform in the US Prison System" symposium talk on Tuesday March 1st at 4:30 pm in Bicentennial Hall 219 with John Perry, former Director of Planning for the Vermont State Prison system for 30 years, and Juliana Ratner, program director of a non-profit focused on alternative prison reform. Learn lots and ask hard questions!
And lastly, a fun, prison-related fact: Vermont and Maine are the only two states in the US that allow prisoners to vote while in prison, which is kind of a big deal, considering 14 states ban anyone with a felony conviction from voting for life.
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