Clay, Clarke Demand Census Bureau Reverse Prison Gerrymandering Rule

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau reverse its just-announced decision to once-again count incarcerated persons where they are currently imprisoned instead of counting them as residents of their home communities of origin.

Mr. Clay, who chaired the House Oversight Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the 2010 Census said, “I am appalled that the Census Bureau is proposing to repeat the same misguided mistake regarding prisoner gerrymandering as it did back in 2010.  As I argued then, prisoners do not magically appear from thin air…they have home towns.  And more than 75% of incarcerated persons will eventually return to the communities where they resided before sentencing.  Fairness and accuracy dictate that they should be enumerated as residents of their home communities.” Mr. Clay continued, “A repeated failure to reverse the prisoner gerrymandering rule would also be racially discriminatory, depriving minority communities of accurate census counts which would result in reduced political representation and chronic underfunding for critical programs and projects.”

“I am profoundly disappointed to learn that the Census Bureau has decided to continue its systematic practice of disenfranchisement of communities of color,” said Clarke. “By ignoring the overwhelming voice of a public demanding change, the Bureau, continues the inaccurate and outdated practice of counting incarcerated persons as “residents” of the prison locations—artificially inflating the population count and the political power of communities with prisons—instead of their home communities,” Clarke said.

“Across this country, prison-based gerrymandering weakens minority voting strength, power, and influence and transfers that power to predominantly white, rural areas. Make no mistake about it, this is the Three-Fifths Compromise of today.”

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