Civil Rights Teams Urge CO Redistricting Fee to Allocate Inmates Based mostly on Residency, Not Jail Location

On Monday, a coalition of Colorado-based civil rights organizations released a letter calling on the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions to assign inmates to their home parishes to prevent racial prejudice from contaminating the new maps for Colorado’s congressional and legislative districts.

“The pattern and practice of redistribution has historically been plagued by racially biased effects, including dividing black and brown communities to dilute their political influence and drawing warped district lines to separate non-whites and their political ones To dilute influence, “it says in the letter. “Gerrymandering in prisons is another example of how the redistribution process has negatively affected blacks and browns and their home communities.”

The Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions were formed to prevent partisan interference during the 2021 redistribution process. With Colorado most likely to win an eighth congressional district, the process has been hotly debated on both sides of the aisle.

CONTINUE READING: Deadline for the redistribution of comments coming soon

In the letter, co-authored by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC), Colorado Black Women for Political Action, NAACP Denver, and several other groups urged redistribution commissions to redistribute people in state prisons to their home counties rather than the county where the prison is located.

Most prison inmates do not live where they are held, according to a memo from the CCJRC. While the majority of inmates are from urban areas, most of the prisons are located in rural areas.

“This unfair transfer of political influence and representation affects conservative and liberal communities alike,” the letter reads. “For example, Colorado Springs sends more people to state prisons than any other county, but it doesn’t have a state prison. Neither do the Arapahoe, Adams, Larimer, Douglas, Boulder, Mesa, or Weld counties, where most of the prison inmates come from.

In addition, the coalition stated that people of color were overrepresented in the US prison population. Because of this, prison administration has a disproportionate impact on black and brown communities.

The proposal to reallocate Colorado prison inmates was scrutinized early last year when Colorado lawmakers tabled a bill to reallocate inmates for the Federal Census Bureau. The bill, HB20-1010, was passed with bipartisan support and signed by Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) in March 2020.

Since the law only applies to the federal census, the redistribution commissions are not legally bound by it. However, the coalition argues that the commissions should follow the HB20-1010 precedent.

“It is extremely relevant that this issue was thoroughly examined from a political perspective and that there were no community groups, electoral officials or local governments opposed to it during the legislative process,” the letter reads. “It was passed in a bipartisan vote and turned into law.”

In addition, a similar redistribution process is already practiced by the U.S. Forces, which assign members in the census based on their place of residence rather than their assignment.

“Certainly this is not a manipulation of the census data; It is a shelter that recognizes that soldiers are temporarily away from home, ”the letter said. “We also state that people in prison are temporarily away from home and should therefore also be redistributed to their home communities for purposes of redistribution.”

According to a press release, the redistribution commissions will vote on the proposal on Thursday.

Read the full letter here.