Racine County, WI, seeks to avoid prison-based gerrymandering

Racine County Supervisors are looking into ways to avoid prison-based gerrymandering for the coming decade.

by Aleks Kajstura, April 7, 2011

Wisconsin’s Racine County is discussing taking the prison population into account when drawing new districts. If the county includes the prison population in the local district, the district would derive 17% of its population from the prison. The County is considering how to avoid giving the actual residents of District 13 more representation in county government than residents who live in every other one of the County’s supervisor districts. The Journal Times reports:

County Supervisor Ken Lumpkin, whose district includes the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility, 1501 Albert St., is concerned that counting the inmates at the facility unfairly affects his district….

“It’s unfair they are utilized in the census count,” Lumpkin said. “They are not active participants in the community.”