Minnesota

The U.S. Census Bureau counts incarcerated people where they are confined not where they are from. Using these counts to draw legislative districts violates Minnesota state law and makes democracy suffer. There are 10 Minnesota House districts where state and federal prison populations were counted as residents, significantly enhancing the weight of a vote cast in those districts.

Testimony

Brenda Wright, Director of the Democracy Program, Dēmos, written testimony submitted to the Minnesota Judicial Special Redistricting Panel, October 20, 2011.
Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative, written testimony submitted to the Minnesota Judicial Special Redistricting Panel, October 19, 2011.
Sarah Walker, Co-founder of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, before the Minnesota Judicial Special Redistricting Panel, October 6, 2011
Sarah Walker, Co-founder of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, before the Minnesota Citizens Redistricting Commission, September 19, 2011

Minnesota leaders

It’s impossible to include everyone who is working toward fair districting in Minnesota, but if you are looking to get involved, these are some of the people and organizations you might want to contact:

Sarah Walker, a founder of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition and Chief Operating Officer of 180 Degrees Inc.
Mark Haase, at Council on Crime and Justice

Endorsements

The New York Times editorial board has supported this movement with over 12 editorials, including Phantom Voters in New York, Prison-Based Gerrymandering, and Phantom Voters, Thanks to the Census.

Fact sheets

Report

Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Minnesota (2010) is our district-by-district analysis of how crediting Minnesota’s incarcerated residents to the wrong districts distorts democracy and violates the federal and state constitutions.
- Report
- Press release
- Appendix 1: Incarcerated populations in Minnesota House districts
- Appendix 2: Race and incarcerated populations in Minnesota House districts

Legislation in previous sessions

Ideally, the Census Bureau would count incarcerated people at home or the state would have enough time to develop a solution that would count incarcerated people at their home addresses. But as insufficient time remains for those strategies, a bill could require the state, the counties and other local governments to use their own data on the home addresses of incarcerated people to draw fairer districts.

Last session, Senator Higgins and Representative Champion introduced bills that would have prohibited padding legislative districts with prison populations. The bills would have prohibited districts with prisons from exerting undue influence over all other districts.

In the Senate: S.F. No. 3097
In the House: H.F. No 3536

2010 Census data

ESRI shapefile and Maptitude layer with the state, federal, private prisons and halfway houses in Minnesota as counted by the 2010 Census. The files also contain links to detailed demographic data for these populations.

Press coverage

Prison-policy study shows how inmate counts yield redistricting clout By Casey Selix, Minnesota Post, March 9, 2010
Organizing to end prison-based gerrymandering in Minnesota, podcast with Peter Wagner (Prison Policy Initiative), and Sarah Walker and Mark Haase of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, June 2010.

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