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Counting prisoners skews precinct drawing in rural counties

The Victoria Advocate published a story this morning about the effect of prison populations on rural redistricting, a subject discussed recently on Grits after Maryland became the first state to require counting inmates in their home counties instead of the county in which their unit is housed. Reports the Advocate:Inmate counts for counties such as Bee, DeWitt and Karnes counties could not only affect redistricting, but also state legislative seats. Some people have raised concerns about prisoners accounting for a large percentage of a county's population. An increase in population spurred by inmate numbers could mean new districts. Prisoners in Anderson and Walker counties, for example, account for 12 percent of the respective populations, said Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 02, 2010 (boomark / email).