What happens with Alabama prisoners and the U.S. Census?
A majority of Alabama prisoners are Black and are miscounted in majority White communities. The average prison sentence in Alabama is less than 8 years. Over 1/3 of the prison population will be released from prison each year before the next Census is conducted in 2020. However, by counting them under the “usual residence rule,” these men and women will be miscounted outside of their home communities producing prison-based, racially gerrymandered legislative districts. These same Alabama prisoners come from low income communities and will likely return to those communities upon release and become a part of the local “poverty population.” Nevertheless, under the census “usual residence rule” prisoners are discounted and are not included in the states poverty population which is used to determine hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and appropriations. Table B. is based on the numbers of prisoners released in 2009: TABLE B: What is the impact on low income Alabamians? • The
