Census engaged in 'prison-based gerrymandering, re p o rt says

MEDIU, REPORTS CHICAGOry URL: http://news.rnedill.northwestern.eduichicagoinews.aspOid,155730

Story Retrieval Date: 2/8/2010 12:18:09 PM CST

Inmates live where they're lockedThe U.S. Census counts prisoners as residents of their cells, despite Illinoislaw. No big deal, right? It is for the districts in which prisons are located,because census numbers are used to determine district sizes.

Here's a preview of how state prisons might pad population numbers in 2010.11

Carroll County0.9% Incarcerated

Rock Iskiild County0.7% Incarcerated

1Knox County—

/3.5% I nca rce ra ted

Lee County6.1% Incarcerated

/Ful ton Copnty5.3% Incarcerated

B row n/r o t at y l

30.5% I n c a.r a i r i d e d

e_Morgan County/ 4 :2% Incarcerated

ogan County-6% Incarcerated

;_ _ Ma c on County

0-4% Incarcerated_

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Christian County3.4% Incarcerated —

Montgomer y County6.3% Incarcerated ;

Fayette County I

l•C l i n t o n Count ySt,,,ftlair County 4356 l

o car c e r ated

7.2% Incarcerated

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Livingston County6.4% Incarcerated

Will CountyLaSalle County ,0.5% incarcerated0.8% Incarcerated • •

0.3% Inca rc e r a t e d, 1

Jefferson County1.4.6% Incarcerated_

•%,

Vermil l ion4 C o u nt y

2.2% Inca rc7ated

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Crawfor4' ' c o un t y

6.1% Incarcerated

L a ' P en C i i g ° l in t y

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Census engaged in 'prison-based gerrymandering, re p o rt says

Facility Pop.Big Muddy River 1847Centralia 1539Danville 1825Decatur 497Dixon 2144Dwight 1114East Moline 1118Graham 1894Hill 1829Illinois River 1967Jacksonville 1513Lawrence 2005Lincoln 973Logan 1899Menard 3547Pinckneyviile 2256Pontiac 1300Robinson 1202Shawnee 1990Sheridan 946Southwestern 674Stateville 3404Tamms 415Taylorville 1177Thomson 138Vendalia 1520Vienna 1573Western Illinois 20044

The raw numbers:

Pandotp10.8% I ncarc

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'Incarcerated-11;;:f•1

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Alexander County ,5.1% Incarcerated t

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County P o p .Jefferson 4 0 0 8 3Clinton 3 6 7 1 1Vermillion 8 0 6 8 0Macon 1 0 8 3 2 8Lee 3 5 1 2 9Livingston 3 7 6 8 1Rock Island 1 4 6 8 8 6Montgomery 2 9 7 7 3Knox 5 1 8 5 7Futton 3 6 7 1 9Morgan 3 5 2 5 1Lawrence 1 6 6 8 1Logan 2 9 7 8 7Logan 2 9 7 8 7Randolph 3 2 6 4 1Perry 2 2 4 8 4Livingston 3 7 6 8 1Crawford 1 9 5 5 5Johnson 1 3 7 3 1LaSalle 1 1 2 4 7 4St. Clair 2 6 2 2 9 1Will 6 8 1 0 9 7Alexander 8 1 5 2Christian 3 4 5 0 1Carroll 1 5 8 4 1Fayette 2 0 9 8 1Johnson 1 3 7 3 1Brown 6 5 7 3

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Data based on U.S.Census populationprojections for 2008and IllinoisDepartment ofCorrections inmateheadcount averagesfor 2009

Note: Does notinclude federalprisons

Sources:Annual Estimates of the ResidentPopulation for Counties ofI llinois, Population Division, U .S.Census Bureau

I llinois Department ofCorrections We b site

Prison Policy I nitia tive sImporting Constituents:Prisoners and Politica l C lout inI llinois Report

Census engaged in 'prison-based gerrymandering,' report saysb y AN D R EW PALEYFeb 04, 2010The U.S. Census is set to skew political power in Illinois, again.

Reformers call the problem "prison-based gerrymandering." It's the census practice of counting inmateswhere they're incarcerated, not where they legally reside (that's their homes prior to arrest, according toIllinois case law dating back to the 1800s).

"If a prisoner is in jail on the day of the census, but released the next day, they would be counted there forthe next 10 years," Illinois Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago) said.

The main result? Constituents in districts with large prisons find themselves with more political power

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Census engaged in 'prison-based gerrymandering, ' report says

thanks to redistricting — antithetical to the supposed purpose of redistricting, which is to ensure that eachAmerican has equal voice in government.

Ford has a fix, and his bill is now before the House after passing out of committee on Wednesday night1 d vote split starkly along party lines.

Ford's bill would require state and federal prison authorities to report inmate data to the Illinois Secretary ofState. This would be used for "an adjusted population distribution count" — placing each inmate at his or herlegal address rather than at the prison for redistricting purposes.

It's a hot topic elsewhere this week as well. A report released Tuesday by the Prison Policy Initiative, aMassachusetts-based nonprofit, outlined the case for that exact reform in Illinois. In the report, theorganization cites county-by-county data from the 2000 Census.

One highlight in the report is Brown County, home of the Western Illinois Correctional Center. In the 2000Census, the population of Brown County was recorded as 6,950. But 1,912 of those counted in BrownCounty were inmates — they couldn't vote, and they didn't legally reside there.

That population padding means that the 5,038 actual legal residents of Brown County have adisproportionate influence in government.

How? According to the report, each Illinois State Assembly district is built around census data to have105,248 constituents. Brown County is part of the 93rd District, where roughly 2 percent of the recordedpopulation is incarcerated.

Meaning: Every 98 voters in the 93rd District are as politically powerful as every 100 voters of other districts4 don't benefit from a prison. And that's not the worst case outlined in the report.

Beyond the scope of Ford's bill, the miscount of prisoners also wreaks havoc on the quality of the censusdata itself. And it's not just in the population counts.

Let's go back to Brown County. In the last census, the county's black population stood at 1,265. That's onein five — relatively diverse on paper. According to the Prison Policy Initiative's report, however, 1,260 ofthem were in the correctional facility.

In other words, 99.6 percent of the black population of Brown County counted in 2000 were transplantedinmates. But you wouldn't know it from the census.

And despite the push for reform, Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, contendsthat the Census Bureau is slow to adopt his suggestions. They couldn't even put a number on the inmateissue until his first report in 2002.

As such, there's no hope at this point for 2010.

2/8/10 1 :18 PM

'The bureau is off the hook for this year," Wagner said. "But this needs to be the last census that counts 2million people in the wrong place."

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Census engaged in 'prison-based gerrymandering, re p o rt says

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Related LinksThe Prisoners of the Census ReportBill HB4650: Status and Full Text

©2001 - 2009 Medill Reports - Chicago, Northwestern University. A publication of the Medi!! School.

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