State Senator Adriano Espaillat Hails Court Ruling Upholding Prison Gerrymandering Reform

Prison gerrymandering deprived communities of color of equal representation and artificially propped up Upstate districts at the expense of New York City

(New York, NY) – Today, New York State Senator Adriano Espaillat (D – Manhattan/Bronx) congratulated Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on successfully defending the state law reforming an anti-democratic practice known as prison gerrymandering. Criticized by civil rights and good-government groups, prison gerrymandering wrongly counted prisoners as residents in areas where they are temporarily incarcerated, instead of the communities they come from.

 Senator Adriano Espaillat said: “Prison gerrymandering harmed Downstate communities, particularly those with high numbers of minority constituents, like the ones I represent. It cost our communities valuable resources and equal representation in government. We commend Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for successfully defending the ill-conceived challenge to prison gerrymandering reform that we passed in the legislature last year.”

 “We must immediately implement requirements of the prison gerrymandering reform as part of the redistricting process and count incarcerated individuals as residents of the communities they come from. Additionally, we must move aggressively towards independent redistricting and restore New Yorkers’ faith in government,” said Senator Espaillat.