Authors | Prisoners of the Census

International Committee Urged to Scrutinize U.S. Census Practices That Dilute Vote of Minority Populations, by Peter Wagner, December 13, 2007
Budget battles endanger prison count, by Peter Wagner, October 30, 2007
Senator Schneiderman, the Prison Policy Initiative and Other Elected Officials and Advocates Call on Census to Count Prisoners in Their Home Communities, by Peter Wagner, October 18, 2007
Prisoners in the Census skew county government in New York, by Peter Wagner, July 18, 2007
A Little common sense: Three fallacies about prisons and New York redistricting, by Peter Wagner, April 18, 2007
Interactive Democracy Toolkit helps grassroots democracy activists, by Peter Wagner, April 10, 2007
New article from Northwestern University Law School demonstrates viability of state-based solution to federal failures in decennial census, by Peter Wagner, January 3, 2007
Testimony calls for New York to adjust Census counts of people in prison as part of larger redistricting reforms, by Peter Wagner, November 3, 2006
New tool shows how prisons skew county demographics, by Peter Wagner, October 20, 2006
National Academies report calls for Census Bureau to collect alternative addresses for people in prison, by Peter Wagner, September 14, 2006
Voter Guide asks New York candidates about Census reform, by Peter Wagner, September 8, 2006
Census count hurts prison towns right now, by Peter Wagner, March 28, 2006
Rural Michigan newspaper calls for change in Census counts of prisoners, by Peter Wagner, February 23, 2006
New report shows “Why the Census Bureau can and must start collecting the home addresses of incarcerated people”, by Peter Wagner, February 17, 2006
Fixing the Census Bureau’s mistakes is admirable, but not every government can do it, by Peter Wagner, January 5, 2006
Financial burden of how prisoners counted in Census falls on rural — not urban — communities, by Peter Wagner, December 8, 2005
Phantom Constituents in the Census — New York Times Editorial, by Peter Wagner, September 26, 2005
Census treatment of incarcerated felons unfairly dilutes voting strength of non-prison communities, by Peter Wagner, June 22, 2005
Census counts of prisoners distort decision making on crime policy, by Peter Wagner, June 1, 2005
Pennsylvania voting rules explain prisoner residence, by Peter Wagner, April 18, 2005
Zoe Gottlieb takes prisoner-census analysis to southern states, by Peter Wagner, April 11, 2005
Pace Law Review: Prisoners of the Census: Electoral and Financial Consequences, by Peter Wagner, April 5, 2005
Skewing Democracy: Where the Census Counts Prisoners, by Peter Wagner, March 28, 2005
Frequent transfers mean that prison is not a residence, by Peter Wagner, March 21, 2005
92% of New York’s prison cells are in disproportionately White Assembly districts, by Peter Wagner, March 14, 2005
Georgia’s proposed congressional districts may violate One Person One Vote principle, by Peter Wagner, March 7, 2005
New York proposes to fix the Census distortion, by Peter Wagner, February 28, 2005
Census miscounts prisoners, dilutes urban voting power, by Peter Wagner, February 21, 2005
Illinois bill reflects growing frustration with Census counts of prisoners, by Peter Wagner, February 14, 2005
New research on Nevada, Montana, and Idaho: How the census is watering down the voting power of some communities, by Peter Wagner, February 7, 2005
Federal appeals court urged to consider census-based dilution of minority voting strength when weighing legality of prisoner disenfranchisement scheme, by Peter Wagner, January 31, 2005
Eric Cadora shows how incarceration is concentrated in particular Brooklyn neighborhoods, by Peter Wagner, January 24, 2005
98% of New York’s prison cells are in disproportionately White Senate districts, by Peter Wagner, January 17, 2005
15% of one Montana district’s population is prisoners; largest vote dilution yet seen, by Peter Wagner, January 10, 2005
Judge in Westchester voting recount says homeless shelter can, but jail cannot, be a residence, by Peter Wagner, January 3, 2005
NYT: Why Some Politicians Need Their Prisons to Stay Full, by Peter Wagner, December 27, 2004
Census Bureau’s method of counting prisoners steals political clout from Las Vegas and Reno, by Peter Wagner, December 20, 2004
New tool allows researchers to find correctional facilities in Census data, by Peter Wagner, December 13, 2004
Census prison quirk dilutes democracy in Idaho, by Peter Wagner, December 6, 2004
A changing country needs a changing census, by Peter Wagner, November 29, 2004
New York Times calls for Census Bureau to count prisoners at their home addresses, by Peter Wagner, November 22, 2004
Prisoners in the census dilute democracy in South Dakota, by Peter Wagner, November 15, 2004
New Report: Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Montana, by Peter Wagner, November 14, 2004
Texas sees damaged democracy from Census counts of prisoners, by Peter Wagner, November 8, 2004
State officials tell counties to exclude prison populations from county level redistricting, by Peter Wagner, November 1, 2004
Students and prisoners: Census should not count them the same, by Peter Wagner, October 25, 2004
Public rightly insists that that federal prison be excluded from new California county’s districts, by Peter Wagner, October 18, 2004
Census data asks: Where are the Hispanic children? But it’s the wrong question., by Peter Wagner, October 11, 2004
Census expert Prof. Persily suggests allowing data users to decide where prisoners should be counted., by Peter Wagner, October 4, 2004
Boston Globe profiles Prisoners of the Census project, by Peter Wagner, September 27, 2004
Most of New York State’s prison cells are in Republican Assembly Districts, by Peter Wagner, September 20, 2004
Counting prisoners at home would not share problems seen in Overseas Americans test enumeration, by Peter Wagner, September 13, 2004
New Op-ed: Census’ cell count steals voting power, by Peter Wagner, September 8, 2004
Rural citizens call for change in how Census counts prisoners, by Peter Wagner, September 6, 2004
Temporary populations change the political face of New York; 98% of NY’s prison cells are in Republican Senate Districts, by Peter Wagner, August 30, 2004
Legislative districts belong to the people, not the politicians, by Peter Wagner, August 23, 2004
Rural Pennsylvania invests in prisons, but not for their own residents, by Peter Wagner, August 16, 2004
World’s largest jail skews voting power in controversial New York district, by Peter Wagner, August 9, 2004
Border districts hang in the balance of Census counting decisions, by Peter Wagner, August 2, 2004
Redistricting Matters: Small changes in the boundary lines mean huge electoral effects, by Peter Wagner, July 26, 2004
Texas bill shows states could correct Census counts of prisoners, by Peter Wagner, July 19, 2004
Census Bureau Policy Costs Ohio’s Cities Political Power, by Peter Wagner, July 12, 2004
Census Bureau Policy Costs Ohio’s Cities Population, by Peter Wagner, July 5, 2004
Call your cell a residence?: Do not pass “GO”, go directly to …., by Peter Wagner, June 28, 2004
14th Amendment is an unintended casualty of Census Bureau’s method of counting prisoners, by Peter Wagner, June 21, 2004
Prison town legislators represent prisoners’ interests? Not quite., by Peter Wagner, June 14, 2004
Local officials tell prisoners: “You don’t live here”, by Peter Wagner, June 7, 2004
Home is where the cell is? Only to the Census Bureau, by Peter Wagner, May 31, 2004
Census’ transfer of incarcerated population creates legislative stalemate in New York, by Peter Wagner, May 24, 2004
Three ways to fix Census counting problem, by Peter Wagner, May 17, 2004
Why are so many Native Hawaiians incarcerated in Minnesota?, by Peter Wagner, May 10, 2004
Outdated methodology impairs Census Bureau’s count of Black population, by Peter Wagner, May 3, 2004
Prison expansion made 56 counties with declining populations appear to be growing in Census 2000, by Peter Wagner, April 26, 2004
Journalist Alan Elsner’s new book on criminal justice system calls for changing Census, by Peter Wagner, April 22, 2004
Twenty one counties have twenty one percent of their population in prisons and jails, by Peter Wagner, April 19, 2004
The distortion of Census data caused by counting people in prisons is “Too Big To Ignore”, by Peter Wagner, April 12, 2004
How Census Bureau counts prisoners undercounts Michigan’s cities, by Peter Wagner, April 5, 2004
Census counts of prisoners stymie Arizona’s efforts to create equally sized districts, by Peter Wagner, March 29, 2004
Miscounting prisoners complicates Census portrait of New Jersey, by Peter Wagner, March 22, 2004
Redistricting explained, by Peter Wagner, March 15, 2004
Census counts of prisoners shift population in California, by Peter Wagner, March 15, 2004
Upstate New York radio asks: Are state prisoners local residents?, by Peter Wagner, March 8, 2004
Forty out of forty legislators agree: Prisoners incarcerated in my district are not really my constituents, by Peter Wagner, March 8, 2004
Changing how prisoners are counted will not require a change in how college students are counted, by Peter Wagner, March 1, 2004
Counting prisoners in prison towns can burden local government, by Peter Wagner, February 23, 2004
Prisoners distort democracy in St. Lawrence County, by Peter Wagner, February 16, 2004
Similarities in counting overseas Americans and counting prisoners at home, by Peter Wagner, February 9, 2004
Where did the Census Bureau count 44,326 New York City prisoners?, by Peter Wagner, February 2, 2004
Fear of “unwieldy” rural districts in Florida should not have led to dilution of one person one vote principle, by Peter Wagner, January 26, 2004
Census count helps postpone drug reform in New York, by Peter Wagner, January 19, 2004
Prisoner count skews Illinois population, by Peter Wagner, January 12, 2004
Federal court strikes down Georgia legislative districting plan, by Peter Wagner, January 11, 2004
Concern for prisoner-count based skew of democracy dates back to at least 1963, by Peter Wagner, January 5, 2004
UPenn Law Review: Defying one-person, one-vote: Prisoners and the “Usual residence” principle, by Peter Wagner, January 2, 2004
Increasingly rural Illinois prisons dilute Chicago’s political power, by Peter Wagner, December 29, 2003
Prof. Karlan: Underpopulated rural districts use prisoners as “inert ballast” to gain population, by Peter Wagner, December 27, 2003
“Home of record” would be a more accurate “home address” than the prison town, by Peter Wagner, December 22, 2003
If prisoners could vote, they would vote at home, not in the prison town, by Peter Wagner, December 15, 2003
Prior to 1990 Census, prisoners were not explicitly excluded from Census counts, by Peter Wagner, December 8, 2003
Counting urban prisoners as rural residents counts out democracy in New York Senate, by Peter Wagner, December 1, 2003
Disenfranchised urban prisoners are not rural constituents, by Peter Wagner, November 24, 2003
Kansas proves adjusting Census is possible, by Peter Wagner, November 17, 2003
States are not required to use the federal census, by Peter Wagner, November 10, 2003
Usual residence rule has been modified for other special populations and can be changed for prisoners too, by Peter Wagner, November 3, 2003
Prisoner counts skew local gender and marriage statistics, by Peter Wagner, October 27, 2003
County of conviction and prisoner residence, by Peter Wagner, October 20, 2003
A repugnant flashback?, by Peter Wagner, October 13, 2003
Prisoner-staff racial disparity shows need for Census reform, by Peter Wagner, October 6, 2003
Cities with large prisons: Counting prisoners as residents dilutes democracy in Mansfield Ohio, by Peter Wagner, September 29, 2003
Prisoners skew local rural redistricting too, by Peter Wagner, September 22, 2003
Bogus data pumps up the rural population, by Peter Wagner, September 15, 2003
Call your cell a residence?: Do not pass “GO”, go directly to …., by Peter Wagner, September 8, 2003
Buying the prisoner count in Minnesota, by Peter Wagner, September 1, 2003
“Residents” not by choice but by Census policy, by Peter Wagner, August 25, 2003
Constitution allows states to correct for Census misallocations of prisoners, by Peter Wagner, August 18, 2003
Baltimore supplies the prisoners, but doesn’t get the prisons, by Peter Wagner, August 11, 2003
Counting prisoners as prison-town residents leads to “misleading” conclusions about growth, by Peter Wagner, August 4, 2003
Rural areas have 20% of population, but 60% of new prisons, by Peter Wagner, July 28, 2003
Prisoners are not the only temporarily absent population that intends to return home, by Peter Wagner, July 22, 2003
Putting the state off-balance, by Peter Wagner, July 13, 2003
Lost population-based revenue is a hidden cost of incarcerating prisoners out-of-state, by Peter Wagner, July 6, 2003

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The Census' prisoner miscount distorts democracy

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