Rhode Island

The U.S. Census Bureau counts incarcerated people where they are confined not where they are from. Using these counts to draw state and county 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.

Legislation

The Residence of Those in Government Custody Act was introduced as S 0147 by Senators Metts, Crowley, Pichardo, and Jabour on January 24, 2013, and as H 5283 by Representatives Williams, Lally, Guthrie, Hull, and Ajello, on February 6, 2013.

Organizations in Rhode Island

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

ACLU of Rhode Island: and
Common Cause Rhode Island: John Marion

Endorsers

DARE
ACLU
Common Cause
NAACP LDF (See their statement to the Senate and the House.)
Open Doors
Urban League

Fact sheets

Prison-based gerrymandering in Rhode Island: The problem, the law, the solution
Rhode Island's Census Adjustment Act How the bills work and who benefits
States are authorized to adjust census data to end prison-based gerrymandering, and many already do [PDF] by Prison Policy Initiative and Demos
Prison-Based Gerrymandering in City of Cranston, RI

Testimony

Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, submitted to the Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary, March 12, 2013
Common Cause Rhode Island, before the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Judiciary, February 26, 2013
Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, submitted to the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Judiciary, February 25, 2013
Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, before the Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary, March 6, 2012
Common Cause Rhode Island, before the Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary, March 6, 2012
Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, before the Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary, January 26, 2012
Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative, before the Rhode Island Reapportionment Commission, December 22, 2011 (a shorter version of the testimony before the Committee on Judiciary, above)
Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union, before the Rhode Island Reapportionment Commission, October 17, 2011

More information

Unlocking the Census: Nearly 5000 “Guests” should not prop up Cranston districts, by Bruce Reilly, RIFuture.org, January 13, 2010. Bruce Reilly looks at the impact of prison-based gerrymandering on individual districts — and democracy as a whole — in Rhode Island.
Claiming prisoners as Cranston constituents has a downside for Rhode Island city's voting rights press release, April 13, 2010
Fixing prison-based gerrymandering after the 2010 Census: Rhode Island

Press coverage

Organizing to end prison-based gerrymandering in Rhode Island, podcast interview by Peter Wagner with Bruce Riley, organizer at Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Prisoners of the Census Blog, August 26, 2010
N.Y. prisoners switch districts; will R.I. follow?, by Ed Fitzpatrick (column), Providence Journal, August 17, 2010
10 More Years of Power? Still time to pass the Residence of Those in Government Custody Act, by Bruce Reilly, RIfuture.org, June 6, 2010
City softens stance on prison census, by John Hill, Providence Journal [Rhode Island], May 6, 2010
The Case of Cranston's Phantom Prison Constituents, by Te-Ping Chen, Change.org, April 14, 2010
Rhode Island mayor: Prisoners count as residents when it helps me, not when it helps them, by Sara Mayeux, Prisoners of the Census Blog, March 31, 2010
Second Grader Tests Limits of Rhode Island Prison-based Gerrymandering Policy, Prison Law Blog, March 30, 2010