A Little common sense: Three fallacies about prisons and New York redistricting

by Peter Wagner, April 18, 2007

It should come as no surprise that one of the few people to publicly oppose changing the way the U.S. Census Bureau counts people in prison would be the New York State Senator with the largest imprisoned population: Senator Elizabeth Little. What is noteworthy, however, is that Little’s recent comments to the Glens Falls Post-Star rest upon some of the most common fallacies about how our criminal justice and electoral systems work.

Interactive Democracy Toolkit helps grassroots democracy activists

Prison Policy Initiative launches set of online tools to help rural citizens determine if prisons are diluting their right to equal representation.

by Peter Wagner, April 10, 2007

Today the Prison Policy Initiative launched the Democracy Toolkit, a set of online tools designed to help rural citizens determine if prison populations in legislative districts are diluting their right to equal representation. Despite the fact that people in prison remain legal residents of the place they lived prior to their incarceration, the Census Bureau counts people in prison as if they were willing residents of the prison location.