Inmates key in redistricting issue

There is a cloud over the entire redistricting process. Albany Times Union wrote about LATFOR's continued use of prison-based gerrymandering, despite a 2010 law making it illegal.

ALBANY -- Good-government and civil rights groups charge New York's commission on legislative redistricting will break a 2010 law if it counts inmates where they are jailed.

The legislative commission, known as LATFOR, held its first meeting last week in Albany and announced it will for now ignore a 2010 law -- passed when Democrats controlled the Senate, Assembly and Executive Mansion -- that requires inmates be counted at their last known address.

The current law tends to inflate population figures in rural upstate districts, often at the expense of downstate cities. Senate Republicans, including Betty Little of Queensbury, are challenging the 2010 law in court.

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"There's a cloud over the entire process right now," said Sen. Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat who, like Cuomo, favors appointing an independent body to draw the districts.

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