Can you help us sustain this work?
Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate
More clout
Great Falls Tribune (Montana)
Editorial
January 1, 2005
We're not saying anything criminal happened in the 2004 election, in Lake County or anywhere else, but that doesn't mean criminals didn't have an effect.
Comes now the Prison Policy Initiative, a national think tank focused on America's "incarceration policies," pointing out that at least one legislative district in Powell County is more tightly drawn than it should be because of the presence of the Montana State Prison.
Theoretically, at least, that gives individual voters there more clout than residents of other districts in Montana, where each elected House member represents a little more than 9,000 residents.
In House District 85, that number includes 1,308 voting-age residents who couldn't vote if they wanted to, because they're felons, in prison, and probably from somewhere else.
"The district is almost 15 percent prisoners, a higher figure than in any other state legislative district yet discovered in the United States," PPI reports.
Because of the low numbers involved, it's not any kind of crisis or scandal, but it probably is worth re-examining before the 2010 Census-based reapportionment repeats the problem.
Recommended Reading:
Why are calls from prisons and jails so expensive?
We look at the progress in the fight for phone justice and what comes next.
Research Library
We curate a searchable database of 4,000+ original research reports, organizing each entry by topic and adding brief summaries.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie
The U.S. incarcerates over 1.9 million people, more than any other country. Where are they locked up and why? Read our report.
Jails and bail: Our research
One out of three people behind bars is in a local jail. Our research drives jail reform.