Connecticut
The U.S. Census Bureau counts incarcerated people where they are confined not where they are from. Using these counts to draw state and local legislative districts enhances the weight of a vote cast by people who live near prisons at the expense of everyone else in the state or county.
Connecticut leaders
It's impossible to include everyone who is working toward fair districting in Connecticut, but if you are looking to get involved, these are some of the people and organizations you might want to contact first:
Fact sheets
Reports & Research
Testimony
- 07/05/2011 Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative
- 06/30/2011 Kim Hynes, Senior Organizer, Common Cause in Connecticut
- 03/21/2011 Amy Meek
- 03/21/2011 Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel, Political Participation Group, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
- 03/21/2011 David McGuire, Staff Attorney, ACLU-CT
- 03/21/2011 Denise Merrill, Secretary of the State of Connecticut
- 03/21/2011 Julia Knight
- 03/21/2011 Liz Dupont-Diehl
- 03/21/2011 Matthew Smith and Meghan McCormack
- 03/21/2011 Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative
- 03/21/2011 Representative Charlie L. Stallworth
- 03/21/2011 Senator Marin M. Looney
- 03/21/2011 Susan Pease, Ph.D., Dean of Arts and Sciences, CCSU, Board Member, Common Cause in Connecticut
- 03/21/2011 Timothy Slocum (Mayor Slocum addressed the provisions of a related bill, SB1193, which purports to affect funding distributions. The HB6606 bill, however, applies only to state legislative redistricting.)
- Testimony of Brenda Wright (Director, Democracy Program Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action) Before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary of the Connecticut General Assembly on House Bill 5523, March 19, 2010
- Letter of support from Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., March 22, 2010
- Do you have copies of other submitted testimonies? Contact us.
Previous Legislation
- HB6606, An Act Concerning the Determination of the Residence of Incarcerated Personsfor Purposes of Legislative Redistricting, introduced March 16, 2011
Press coverage
- Conn. lawmakers consider change in how prisoners are counted, by Angela Carter, New Haven Register, March 22, 2011
- Is the Census counting prisoners in the right place? By Mark Pazniokas, CTMirror.org, March 21, 2011
- Legislator eyes inmate residency, by Angela Carter, New Haven Register, November 26, 2010
- Phantom Voters: Why the state should stop “prison gerrymandering”, by Betsy Yagla, New Haven Advocate, March 31, 2010