New prison census rules will help counties
The state Legislature's decision to count incarcerated people at home for redistricting purposes has a big upside for St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties that nobody is talking about ("Lawmakers revamp prison census rules," Aug. 6).
The bill, which does not apply to federal or state funding, requires that state, county and municipal districts be drawn based on prisoners' home addresses. This is a big win for every resident of St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties who does not live next to a large prison.
When county legislative districts are padded with prison populations, the residents of those districts have more influence on county affairs than residents in other parts of the county. State Sen. Joseph Griffo's district is only about 1 percent incarcerated. The largest impact of prison-based gerrymandering is at the county level. In Jefferson County, 15 percent of the population in District 1 is incarcerated at the Cape Vincent Correctional Facility. In St. Lawrence County, 25 percent of the District 2 population is incarcerated at correctional facilities in Ogdensburg.
The small number of actual residents of these districts are thereby granted more influence over county affairs than their peers in other districts with a full compliment of constituents.
Both counties have seen divisive and expensive litigation about whether prisoners should be used as padding in county legislative districts. Many residents in those counties wanted to deduct the prison counts from the census figures like 13 other New York counties do, but county officials refused.
After the 1990 Census, a Jefferson County case went all the way to the Court of Appeals in Longway v. Jefferson. And after the 2000 Census, the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators broke with previous practice and proposed to include the prison populations for redistricting purposes, prompting a referendum initiative that the legislature defeated in the courts before residents were given a chance to vote on it.
The new state law will require Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties to draw fair districts without prison population padding. The only prisoners that will be included in the counties' districts will be those who are from the counties and thus still remain the counties' legal residents. All residents will now benefit from equitable representation in the county legislature and this benefit more than outweighs the smaller impact on the state Senate districts.
Peter Wagner
Northampton, Mass.
The writer is executive director of Prison Policy Initiative.
