States Get New Leeway To Tally Prisoners In Census

States are getting new leeway in tallying their prisoners in the 2010 census — a move that could reshape the political map, increasing urban population numbers while reducing the figures for rural voting districts where inmates are incarcerated.

The Census Bureau said this week it would release data on prison populations to states when they redraw legislative boundaries next year.

Previously, the agency provided the breakdowns on group quarters, like prisons, after states finished their high-stakes redistricting. That resulted in districts with prisons getting extra representation in their legislatures, despite laws in some states that say a prison cell is not a residence.

Now that the prison data is being made available earlier, states can decide whether they want to count inmates for purposes of redistricting and, if so, where they should be considered residents — in rural towns, where prisons are often built, or cities, where many prisoners came from.

Census director Robert Groves made the decision after weeks of discussion with Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., and with public interest and black groups. They called it an important first step toward shifting federal resources and representation back to urban communities, where they believe the aid is needed the most.

"For too long, communities with large prisons have received greater representation in government on the backs of people who have no voting rights in the prison community," said Brenda Wright, director of the Democracy Program at Demos, a research and advocacy organization. "The Census Bureau's new data will greatly assist states and localities in correcting this injustice."

The impact could be strongly felt in states such as New York, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Texas and Maryland, where prisons are found in more sparsely populated areas. In New York, for instance, most of the 60,000 inmates live in prisons in rural upstate communities, even though half the inmate population committed crimes in New York City.

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