A full presentation of "The Effects of Prison Gerrymandering in Massachusetts" can be found here.
This project tackles the issue of prison gerrymandering and its effects in Massachusetts through a website that raises awareness about it. Specifically, it explores the history, data, and policy of how prison populations intersect with politics in the state. Prison gerrymandering is defined as “a practice whereby many states and local governments count incarcerated persons as residents of the areas where they are housed when election district lines are drawn” (LDF). The continued practice of prison gerrymandering has had profound effects on both the areas where the prisons are located and the urban centers where prisoners often come from. We hope that our project will raise awareness on the issue of prison gerrymandering and take our community a step further on the road to prison reform and abolition.
Researchers: John Lively, Shelly Liu, and Kate Annie De Groote