New York prison-based gerrymandering bill
This is the bill text that passed as a technical amendment to part XX of the revenue budget A9710-D. Both this amendment and the full bill passed the Assembly on July 1, and the Senate on August 3. The Governor signed it on August 11, 2010.-Peter Wagner
STATE OF NEW YORK
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S. 8415 A. 11597
SENATE - ASSEMBLY
June 29, 2010
___________
IN SENATE -- Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to reporting require-
ments of the department of correctional services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of paragraph (a) of subdivision 8 of
2 section 71 of the correction law, as added by section 1 of part XX of a
3 chapter of the laws of 2010 amending the correction law and other laws
4 relating to the collection of census data, as proposed in legislative
5 bill numbers S.6610-C and A.9710-D, is amended to read as follows:
6 In each year in which the federal decennial census is taken but in
7 which the United States bureau of the census does not implement a policy
8 of reporting incarcerated persons at each such person's residential
9 address prior to incarceration, the department of correctional services
10 shall by [July] September first of that same year deliver to the legis-
11 lative task force on demographic research and reapportionment the
12 following information for each incarcerated person subject to the juris-
13 diction of the department and located in this state on the date for
14 which the decennial census reports population:
15 § 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
16 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2010 amending the correction law and
17 other laws relating to the collection of census data, as proposed in
18 legislative bill numbers S.6610-C and A.9710-D, takes effect.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD17951-02-0
Recommended Reading:
About the Prison Policy Initiative
Learn more about the organization behind the Prison Gerrymandering Project.
In prisons, Blacks and Latinos do the time while Whites get the jobs
We explore the racial disparity inside prisons.
McAlester, Okla. ends prison gerrymandering, Census Bureau can do better
McAlester, Okla., finally ended prison gerrymandering after a decade of trying. It's time for a national solution.
Prison-based gerrymandering's historical precedent
This is not the first time a policy barred people of color from the polls and transferred their political power to white voters.
Events
- February 25, 2026:
On February 25, 2026 at 1 p.m. EST, join the Prison Policy Initiative and guests James Kilgore and Mon Mohapatra to discuss ways to push back on “carceral humanist” reforms that don’t change the underlying dehumanization of the criminal legal system.
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