Wis. proposal: Don't count cons for redistricting
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A state lawmaker is proposing that prisoners not be counted as part of the census when Wisconsin redraws its political maps.
When the state updates its political boundaries every 10 years, it uses the census to make sure every district has an equal population.
The census currently counts prisoners where they're incarcerated even though they can't vote.
Rep. Fred Kessler is a Milwaukee Democrat. He says that process gives extra power to constituents in a prison district. He wants to amend the constitution so prisoners wouldn't count for redistricting purposes.
One opponent is Rep. Richard Spanbauer, an Oshkosh Republican. His district includes the Waupun Prison and its thousands of inmates. He says even prisoners deserve to be counted.
Jul 8, 2009 at 9:44 p.m.
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State law says that a prison is not a residence, but the Census Bureau's methods are outdated. Ideally, the Bureau would change how it counts people in prison. There is no time for that now, so Rep. Kessler's amendment is an important and entirely workable interim solution to get data that complies with state law.
Last year, I co-wrote a report about prison-based gerrymandering in the Wisconsin state legislature and in the counties:
Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Wisconsin
http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/wisc...
And ironically, the report shows that some of Rep. Spanbauer's constituents have the most to gain. Yes, they would lose of their unearned clout in the state legislature, but the practice of towns with large prisons dominating the county supervisory boards would end. (The situation on the Waupun City Council is similar where two districts with prison dominate the city.)
This mistake in the Census stands the principle of One Person One Vote on its head.
Jul 8, 2009 at 11:35 a.m.
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I am not sure this was the intent of the constitutional mandate; census is a count of all, not just those you want counted.
Jul 8, 2009 at 10:47 a.m.
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Didn't Waupun incorporate as a city based on the prisoner population? I remember something along those lines from the 1970s.
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I'm not sure I 100% agree that they are a burden on services in the prison district, except perhaps for the odd escape. I'm not sure whether there is a consensus on how to count prisoners, similar to college students, who at least have an argument toward public participation in the community where they reside. But they should be counted somewhere, whether it's at the prison or where they were convicted, and of the two counting them at the prison is probably much simpler.
Jul 8, 2009 at 9:49 a.m.
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They are living humans, so they are part of the population. Even if they can't vote, they still use local government services that need to consider them in planning and budgeting. If you are going to use voting status as the sole criteria, then count only registered voters.
Jul 8, 2009 at 9:09 a.m.
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If equal population in each district is the goal wouldn't failure to count the prisoners simply mean the district in which they reside would become geographically larger?
Jul 8, 2009 at 7:51 a.m.
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Prisoners should be counted in their home areas since after release they have to return to home area they came from. The land of the free is #1 incarceration nation in the world. This count is beneficial to counties with high lock-um up rates.
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