Federal Census policy breaks Kentucky’s democracy — state lawmakers can fix it

Kentucky’s redistricting data was once again skewed after the 2020 Census; the state needs to take action to fix the issue for 2030.

by Aleks Kajstura, August 27, 2025

Everyone in Kentucky is supposed to have an equal voice in their government’s decisions, but an outdated and misguided Census Bureau policy that counts incarcerated people in the wrong place gives a few residents of the state a megaphone. It is a problem known as prison gerrymandering, and Kentucky lawmakers can fix it.

Kentucky blindly follows outdated bureaucratic federal policy

Every ten years, when the Census Bureau conducts its official tally of the nation’s population, it incorrectly counts incarcerated people as residents of prison cells rather than in their home communities. This is despite the fact that they usually are not from the prison town, have no family or social ties there, likely won’t stay there for long, and state residence law says they’re not residents there. When state officials then use that incorrect Census data in the legislative redistricting process, they inadvertently inflate the populations of those areas — in violation of constitutional principles of equal representation. This gives residents of state legislative districts that contain correctional facilities a particularly loud voice in government, allowing them to have an outsized influence on debates about income taxes, healthcare access, educational requirements, and more, at the expense of nearly every other person in the state.

To ensure equal representation, states across the country have taken steps to fix this problem that the Census Bureau created. But, Kentucky is one of the remaining states still suffering from this “prison gerrymandering.” While the 2030 Census count is still years away, Kentucky needs to act now to avoid prison gerrymandering the next time it redraws its districts.

Prison gerrymandering significantly distorts Kentucky’s state legislative districts

In Kentucky, there are two state House districts that powerfully illustrate how prisons distort district populations and give some residents a louder voice in government as a result of prison gerrymandering.

In these two House of Representatives districts — districts 59 and 99 — correctional facilities account for a significant portion of the population. In District 59, for example, correctional facilities make up 8% of the population. That means that just 92 residents of that district have as much political clout as 100 residents in other districts. That imbalance in representation comes from the state choosing to redistrict based on Census numbers that don’t match the reality of where people live.

These two districts are the most prison-gerrymandered state legislative districts in Kentucky. Large chunks of their population are made up of prisons that contain people from other parts of the state, instead of local residents. Adding to the problem, nearly half of people incarcerated in county detention centers and jails are held for state and federal agencies, meaning that they come from all over the state and the country.

In Kentucky, state and local facilities regularly contain people who are incarcerated far from home, have no ties to the communities where the facilities are located, and are moved regularly between facilities for administrative convenience. Simply put, being incarcerated in a specific facility doesn’t make someone a resident of the surrounding district.

Prison gerrymandering disproportionately harms Kentucky’s Black residents

Prison gerrymandering reduces the political power of nearly all Kentucky residents by allowing a few districts with large correctional facilities to claim residents from all over the state. It particularly harms Black people and enshrines the racial inequities of mass incarceration into the state’s legislative districts.

In Kentucky, like across the country, mass incarceration has a disproportionate impact along racial lines. In Kentucky, Black residents are incarcerated at significantly higher rates and, therefore, are counted in the wrong place more often than Kentucky’s white residents. Black residents make up 8% of the state population, but 21% of people in prisons and 18% of people in jails.

The racial impact of prison gerrymandering is so strong in Kentucky that 66% of the Black people counted in District 99 were actually behind bars, rather than living in the community.

Counting incarcerated people in the wrong place adds up. As a result, the Census Bureau policies are effectively silencing the voices of a large portion of Kentucky’s Black residents.

Kentucky law says a prison cell is not a residence. Census Bureau policy disagrees

Not only does the Census Bureau’s redistricting data cause prison gerrymandering, it also doesn’t comply with Kentucky law. The state’s statute on voting¹ residence — determining where someone is represented — is clear that you continue being a resident of your home while incarcerated, and do not become a resident of the facility location:

• (1) A voter’s residence shall be deemed to be at the place where his or her habitation is, and to which, when absent, he or she has the intention of returning;
• (2) A voter shall not lose his or her residence by absence for temporary purposes merely; nor shall he or she obtain a residence by being in a county or precinct for such temporary purposes, without the intention of making that county or precinct his or her home.

(Kentucky Annotated Revised Statute § 116.035.)

Being held in a correctional institution simply does not change someone’s residence because incarcerated people are only held temporarily and don’t intend to stay there.

A correctional facility may seem permanent, but staying at one is temporary. Not only are incarcerated people regularly moved between facilities while incarcerated,² most people don’t generally stay in the area of the prison after their release.³ So, under Kentucky law, they aren’t residents of the facility location.

Instead of following state law, though, the Census Bureau follows its own “residence rule” to choose where to count incarcerated people — where they “live and sleep most of the time.” But it doesn’t even follow this rule properly when it comes to counting incarcerated people.

The Census Bureau counts incarcerated people at the location of the facility where they happen to be held on Census Day under the mistaken belief that that is where incarcerated people “live and sleep most of the time.” The facts, however, do not support its interpretation of its own definition of residence. It is well-established that in the modern era of mass incarceration, incarcerated people do not “live and sleep most of the time” at the facility where they are held on any given day, including Census Day.

Representation in local government is also harmed by prison gerrymandering

The impact of prison gerrymandering is most clearly visible at the small scale: county governments. With smaller districts at the local government level, even a single facility can have a tremendous impact on the redistricting process.

For example, when Clay County drew its Fiscal Court Magistrate districts after the 2010 Census — those maps are still in effect — it included the people counted at FCI Manchester as if they were residents of the county. That means the 1,619 people counted at the federal facility were counted as part of Magistrate District 2, even though it is unlikely that any were residents of Clay County at all.⁴ As a result, 55 people in District 2 were given the same political power on the Fiscal Court as 100 people in every other district.

Including the federal prison population as part of District 2 makes even less sense when you consider that by the 2020 Census, the facility population had dropped to 1,044 people, meaning that the district is based in part on out-of-town residents and in part on empty prison cells.⁵

Recognizing these Census-caused problems, many places in Kentucky that have significant correctional facility populations have already started taking matters into their own hands and rejecting the Bureau’s way of counting incarcerated people.

In the 2010 redistricting cycle, the Prison Policy Initiative found several Kentucky counties that have avoided prison gerrymandering to ensure their residents have equal representation in local government, notably: Casey, Lee, Marion, and McCreary Counties. ⁶

Kentucky’s local governments are not unique; facing these absurd distortions in representation, local governments across the country⁷ are taking matters into their own hands and rejecting the Bureau’s way of counting incarcerated people, even when states fail to act.

In Kentucky, like across the country, local governments have found that adjusting redistricting data to avoid prison gerrymandering is quite easy. However, the state should provide a more efficient and complete solution for its local governments. Although it is not fair that the state has to correct for this federal issue, the state is in a better position to take on that burden than each individual county government.

Nationally, state and local governments are addressing the problem, but the Kentucky legislature is lagging behind

Over the course of the last few decades, over 200 local governments and a growing number of states have taken action on their own to fix this problem. Nearly half of the US population now lives in a place that corrects redistricting data they receive from the Census to avoid prison gerrymandering.

States that have ended prison gerrymandering on their own include deep “blue” states like California, “purple” states like Maine and Pennsylvania, and deep “red” states like Montana — where prison gerrymandering-reform legislation received wide bipartisan support. But Kentucky is falling behind and letting the state’s democracy be skewed by an outdated federal system.

Kentucky needs to take action now

Adjusting redistricting data to avoid prison gerrymandering is now a well-tested strategy with a proven track record. In fact, the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures called this effort “the fastest-growing trend in redistricting.” Kentucky can now confidently pass legislation to count incarcerated people at home for redistricting purposes. Other states have already been successful in these efforts, paving the way for Kentucky. And the state would have the benefit of refining its approach based on lessons learned by states that have gone through the process before. And it is easier than ever for states to act; even the Census Bureau is starting to acknowledge the problem and help.

2030 may seem far away, but other states have learned that the earlier that reforms are put in place, the less expensive, easier to produce, and more accurate the final redistricting data becomes. Every state has a different legislative approach to ending prison gerrymandering, but as a practical matter, this model bill, prepared by a coalition of civil rights, voting rights, and criminal justice organizations, is a great place to start. It provides clear guidance on how this data should be collected, by whom, and how it will be used for the redistricting process.

The Census Bureau is unlikely to change its policies about how to count incarcerated people in time for the 2030 Census, meaning that unless Kentucky acts quickly, the state will once again be driven into prison-gerrymandering its legislative districts.

Kentucky needs to end prison gerrymandering now.