A sample of the comment letters submitted in 2022 to the Census Bureau calling for an end to prison gerrymandering
This page reprints a sample of the comment letters submitted to the Census Bureau in support of ending prison gerrymandering, calling on the Bureau to count incarcerated people at home in the 2030 Census. These letters were written in response to a Federal Register notice published in August 2022. The Census Bureau solicited input as part of their early planning for the 2030 Census.
The following is a sample of the organizations and individuals who explain in their own words why counting incarcerated people at home makes for a more accurate and equitable Census. We also have an archive of comments from 2015 and 2016 in response to previous notices from the Bureau.
If you submitted a comment letter to the Bureau and would like to see it posted here, please forward a copy to us at frn@prisonpolicy.org
- 27 North Carolina Organizations
- 36 State and National Organizations
- Todd Breitbart, former New York State Senate redistricting staff
- Michael Bristow, St. Louis Missouri resident
- California Legislature
- Census Equity Initiative and Funders' Committee for Civic Participation: Comment and Attached Report
- Dēmos
- Fair Count
- Kelsey Kauffman, Indiana redistricting advocate
- Jo Kreiter, Essie Justice Group Member
- Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- League of Women Voters (LWV US)
- New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ)
- Prison Policy Initiative
- Southern Coalition for Social Justice
- States Count Action Network (S-CAN)
- Voice of the Experienced (VOTE)
Recommended Reading:
About the Prison Policy Initiative
Learn more about the organization behind the Prison Gerrymandering Project.
The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration
The transfer of Black and Latino incarcerated people to communities very different than their own is a nationwide problem.
Are legislative maps hurting prison reforms?
Pam Adams explains how in her downstate Illinois column.
Do prisons draw in Census money for their host communities? No.
We explain that prison gerrymandering is bad for democracy but federal & state aid are not impacted.