‘Prison gerrymandering’ endures in Nevada, despite law

By SAM METZ
AP / Report for America

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Two years after banning prison gerrymandering, Nevada will still count almost half of its prison population in districts where they’re incarcerated, rather than at their previous addresses. Prison officials say difficulties verifying addresses prevented them from providing addresses need to reallocate thousands of inmates to communities they lived in pre-incarceration. The data gap suggests efforts to end a practice that detractors say distorts political maps and voting power won’t be realized, leaving prison town populations inflated at the expense of urban minority communities. Nevada is one of 11 states adjusting how it counts incarcerated people in redistricting this year.