Bill that changes how inmates are counted clears Senate
Those incarcerated in the state are counted as members of the community in which they are imprisoned. Under this bill, they would instead be counted toward the city and town where they lived before entering prison, which advocates contend would be fairer to those communities.
HARTFORD — A bill that would change the way prisoners are counted when Connecticut’s legislative district lines are redrawn cleared the state Senate on Wednesday by a nearly unanimous vote.
The legislation, which passed 35 to 1, now awaits action in the House of Representatives.
Those incarcerated in the state are counted as members of the community in which they are imprisoned. Under this bill, they would instead be counted toward the city and town where they lived before entering prison, which advocates contend would be fairer to those communities.
State President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said the inmates are “involuntary residents” of Connecticut’s prisons, most of which are located in mostly rural communities.
“They have no real connection in that community,” he said. “No one in the prison serves on the school board, or the library board, the Board of Zoning Appeals or anything else in connection with town governance.”
He and other advocates noted that most inmates return to their prior communities after serving their sentences.
Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, cast the sole negative vote on Wednesday. His legislative district includes the largest number of prisons. Kissel, who has opposed similar proposals over the years, argued that inmates are physically residents of those prisons, as the U.S. Census Bureau counts them, and “not some made up last place of residence.”
“We’re not following the reality of where individuals are and aren’t,” he said.
If the legislation ultimately passes, Connecticut will become the 11th state to count inmates, for legislative redistricting purposes, as living in the community where their last place of residence was located. Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, co-chairman of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said the bill will not change formulas for grant funding or other allotments to municipalities that host prisons.