Prison Gerrymandering Harms People of Color
Prisoners are used to gerrymander political districts for political advantage, even though prisoners are denied the right to vote.
Extreme partisan gerrymandering favors Republicans in 43 states. Partisan legislators are using prisoners who cannot vote to Gerrymander congressional and state district lines to gain an unfair political advantage. This is especially harmful to people of color who are more likely to be disenfranchised because of a prior conviction. Nearly half of the 5.2 million Americans denied the vote because of criminal justice have already completed their sentence.
By The Editorial Board
Counting people where they’re imprisoned takes political power away from cities and transfers it to rural areas. Where do you live? For most people, that’s an easy question to answer when the census comes around. It’s much harder for those locked up in a state or federal prison, often hundreds or even thousands of miles from the place they last called home.
Illustration by Nicholas Konrad/The New York Times; photograph by Getty Images