A Call to End Prison Gerrymandering

Although New York has a law stating that prison inmates cannot be counted as residents, that hasn’t stopped some politicians from padding their districts with the incarcerated. But now it’s time to stop the tactic, according to an editorial in the New York Times.

The article urges the state’s legislature to stand up for electoral fairness by passing legislation that requires prison inmates to be counted at their home addresses. Despite the momentum behind the Assembly’s bill, the Senate version is meeting resistance from upstate lawmakers. The rest of the Senate needs to push back, and both houses need to send this bill on to the governor for signing.

In addition to giving unfair political advantage to small districts, prison gerrymandering takes much needed funds away from programs in the inmate’s home communities that are designed to help ensure successful reentry upon release.

To read the editorial, click here.

To find out more about justice reform initiatives, visit Justice Fellowship’s Key Issues site.