Cranston Rhode Island softens stance on prison census reform
by Peter Wagner, May 6, 2010
John Hill reports in the Providence Journal that:
CRANSTON — The city has eased up on its resistance to a bill that would change the way state prison inmates are counted for state and local election purposes, as long as the bill doesn’t weaken the city’s position when it seeks population-based grants or other benefits, a city official said Wednesday.
The bill would not affect funding formulas, so this removes a major political obstacle to Census reform in Rhode Island!
In related exciting news, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund has sent statements of support of the bill to the Senate and the House.
Previous blog coverage of the effort to end prison-based gerrymandering in Rhode Island:
- Rhode Island Campaign page
- RI seeks to change how jail inmates counted for residency, Providence Journal, March 14, 2010
- Claiming prisoners as Cranston constituents has a downside for Rhode Island city’s voting rights, Press release from DARE and Prison Policy Initiative, April 13.
- Rhode Island mayor: Prisoners count as residents when it helps me, not when it helps them, by Sara Mayeux, March 31, 2010
- Prison “resident” wants to register his child in local school, by Bruce Reilly, March 28, 2010
