HARTFORD – A new law that counts prison inmates as residents of the cities they previously lived in rather than the prison they are currently incarcerated in is likely to affect how state legislative and local electoral districts are redrawn in several major cities become. particularly Enfield and Somers.
According to the measure signed by Governor Ned Lamont last month, the correctional authority is required to provide the Office of Policy and Management with a list of inmates other than those with life imprisonment who cannot be released and their addresses for detention.
Prisoners with life imprisonment without the possibility of release are exempt from the new law.
OPM must also ask federal agencies for a similar inmate count list for federal prisons in the state. The authority must adjust the population figures accordingly, publish the data and inform the municipalities that they must use the updated figures when determining the municipal constituencies.
The new law will apply from January 1, 2020 to everyone in the custody of the correctional facility.
The move received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, with Senator John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, offering the only vote against. The House of Representatives cleared it after an almost party-affiliated vote of 95:49.
During his speech to the Senate, Kissel said his district, which includes Enfield and Somers, has more than 3,600 inmates, the majority of whom are no longer counted as Senate District 7 residents.
He called it “a bit of fantasy” to count people outside of their place of residence.
“We don’t follow true reality where individuals are or aren’t,” said Kissel.
Representative Timothy Ackert, R-Coventry; Thomas Delnicki, R-Südwindsor; Kurt Vail, R-Stafford; and Tami Zawistowski, R-Suffield, all voted against the law.
Vail, a former correctional officer whose 52nd house district includes Somers, stated that the law does not address potential “misrepresentations” of an inmate’s whereabouts, and while inmates may not be able to choose, he still represents their interests in the House of Representatives.
He added that local ambulances and fire departments respond to emergencies in prisons in their area, and visitors use local roads that require maintenance and emergency response.
Rep. Tom Arnone, D-Enfield, voted for the measure, although his 58th house district is most likely to be redrawn.
“It’s going to have a big impact in Enfield, but I think it’s all for good,” he said. “I never really understood why they were counted as they were.”
Arnone noted that in addition to Enfield and Somers, several nearby towns could see their district lines redrawn, including Ellington and East Windsor.
“It’s a domino effect,” he said. “Everything has to shift”
The subject is one that Arnone has been thinking about for about 10 years and it’s about justice.
“I wasn’t just thinking about my personal interests and my district; I’ve been thinking about the interests of the entire state of Connecticut, ”he said, explaining why he voted in favor. “My district may move, but I believe I cast the right vote and the right vote for justice.”
During the 2011 redistribution cycle, Connecticut received population data on March 9, 2011, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the state is unlikely to receive data from the last August or September census, according to the Office of Legislative Research. This means that the work of a redistribution committee will be postponed well into the second half of the year.
Proponents of the bill, such as the Human Rights and Opportunities Commission, argue that it is trying to correct “a grave injustice” that has led to racial and other discrimination, noting that blacks and Latinos are “overrepresented in Connecticut “Are prisons due to longstanding injustices in our criminal justice system.”
By further counting inmates after their prison, CHRO argued in a statement that the practice “implicitly conveys that incarcerated individuals are not expected to rehabilitate and return to their communities”.
Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said the previous system had mainly impacted cities.
He testified before the government administrative and electoral legislative committee that less than 20% of the state’s population resides in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, Stamford or Waterbury, but that more than half of the state’s prisoners are from those communities.
Citing data from the NAACP, Looney said this results in a New Haven resident’s vote for state office in the 2020 elections being only 85% of that of an Enfield or Somers resident, as compared to 85 Enfields residents House District more than 100 in the New Haven district.
This leads to skewed allocations in different forms of grant as well as representation within the general assembly, he said.
The impact of the new law is expected to have a greater impact on the counties of states that include prisons, such as Enfield and Somers, but less of an impact on the Senate counties.
The new law does not affect any congressional districts.
Treasurer Shawn Wooden said Enfield’s house districts claimed more than 3,300 black and Latino residents, despite the incarceration of 72% of the city’s black population and 60% of the Latino population.
“Because the state relies on US census numbers for redistribution, Connecticut counties that include prisons are over-represented in the legislature,” he said, meaning urban counties “are under-represented and their political power is diminished.”
“This legislation corrects an injustice that for many decades has mistakenly viewed people as living in cities where they do not live,” Lamont said in a written statement after signing the law. “To be honest, this practice was an artificial relic, aimed at devaluing, devaluing and disenfranchising the voices and voices of colored people on whom the criminal justice system has repeatedly failed.”
While it is not yet fully clear how the legislative districts might be redrawn due to the delay imposed by COVID-19, it is expected that a high percentage of inmates counted in Enfield and Somers will no longer be counted in these communities.
Looney added that cities with prisons are already receiving tax rate or PILOT payments to reimburse them for property tax they would otherwise receive if the land were privately owned.
“You shouldn’t get any extra money because of an artificially increased population,” he said.
Likewise, Secretary of State Denise Merrill said the new law will provide a more accurate census of the population in the state’s major cities, as well as cities where prisons are located, and will “lead to legislative districts that more accurately represent the communities they come from” . are pulled.”
She noted that the issue is time sensitive as the ten-year redistribution after the census is slated to take place later this year.
During the session, Eric can be found at the Hartford Capitol and shares the information readers want and need to know. For insights and updates too Legislation, politicians, boards and commissions affecting the entire state of Connecticut, follow Eric on Twitter: @BednerEric.