Help End Prison Gerrymandering
Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.
—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate
Phantom Constituents in Maine’s Regional School Unit 13:
How the Census Bureau’s outdated method of counting prisoners harms democracy
Petition
- Petition for residents of Cushing, Owls Head, Rockland, South Thomaston, St. George, and Thomaston asking the Maine Department of Education Commissioner to declare Regional School Unit 13’s voting system in violation of the principles of “One Person One Vote”.
- Questions & Answers on petition
Advocacy
- Letter from the Prison Policy Initiative and Demos asking the Maine Department of Education Commissioner to declare the RSU 13 apportionment in violation of the one person one vote principles [PDF], June 11, 2009
- Letter to the editor, from Josiah Wilson, July 11, 2009
Coverage
-
Policy group calls RSU 13 apportionment unconstitutional, by Shlomit Auciello, Herald Gazette (Rockland, ME), January 15, 2009
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.
How to get elected without being a candidate first.
Iowa Public Radio explores how Anamosa Iowa ended prison gerrymandering.
Events
- December 5, 2025:
Our Policy and Advocacy Director, Sarah Staudt, will take part in a webinar hosted by the Center for HIV Law & Policy. The webinar will focus on the collateral consequences people with HIV face after incarceration. Register here
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.