Bill aimed at ending ‘prison gerrymandering’ approved in committee

Connecticut’s inmate population would no longer be considered residents of the towns in which their prisons are located under legislation approved in a key legislative committee on Monday.

Aimed at so-called prison gerrymandering, if approved in the Senate, House of Representatives and Gov. Ned Lamont, the legislation would allow the inmates to be listed in the U.S. Census as residing in their last known addresses, possibly changing the existing boundaries of some districts, but bringing more resources to the inmates hometowns.

The bill, which passed along party lines in the Government Administration & Elections Committee, next heads to the Senate.

“Prison gerrymandering lets lawmakers inflate the population and give places with prisons more representation, and that’s how incarcerated populations impact our elections,” said Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, the elections watchdog, in a phone interview after the committee action.

“But since they cannot vote, state government is exploiting bodies for political gain,” Quickmire said. “Gerrymandering can also distort equal representation by creating districts that appear to give them representation by electing the candidate of their choice, when they cannot even vote.”

“Prison gerrymandering is racist and undemocratic, and it’s long past time for Connecticut to join the ten other states that have abolished it,” said Claudine Fox, Interim Public Policy and Advocacy Director of the ACLU CT, in a statement.

“Prison gerrymandering disenfranchises Black communities and needs to end,” said Scot X. Esdaile, president of the NAACP CT. “I thank the members of the Government Administration & Elections Committee for supporting this historic legislation.”

Advocates note that rural districts where prisons are located are predominantly white, at the expense of cities with higher populations of Black and brown people. Overall prison populations have been steadily declining in the last 13 months, with 8,960 behind bars last week, down 3,449 since March 1, 2020 and nearly 11,000 since 2008, according to the state Department of Correction.

Advocates want to enact the bill into law in time to affect the upcoming redistricting this fall that coincides with the release of Census figures that are used for the 10-year national and statewide political redistricting process.

“Why do we have this before us?” asked state Sen. Rob Sampson, RWolcott, ranking member of the committee who led Republican criticism and opposition. “I really don’t understand what the goals are. I don’t believe there is an injustice going on. I believe that this bill, in fact, is gerrymandering. Who is to say they’ll ever return to that address?”

But Democrats led by Sen. Douglas McCrory, of Hartford, said that the current system is another example of institutional racism.

“We’ve been doing this business in Connecticut for far too long,” McCrory said. “These counts are extremely important, especially when it comes to the Census. It dictates where resources are going, who needs them and all kinds of things that matter. It’s extremely important for Connecticut to come around and get with the 21st Century and stop counting individuals who are located in correctional facilities as residents of that community. That community doesn’t support that individual, their families or anything.”

McCrory said that inmate families remain in their hometowns, and the vast majority of prisoners will be returning there when their prison terms are finished.

“We have a false count, currently,” McCrory said. “At one point, when our prison population was up over 17,000, 18,000, I know specifically 4,000 people from the city of Hartford was not counted. I think it’s extremely important to move forward, pass this legislation and stop doing the injustices that we’ve been doing for individuals, for families, for communities in the state of Connecticut.”