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Where Do Inmates Live? States Move to Stop 'Prison Gerrymandering' in Census

Prisoners count. But where?

By Ludwig Hurtado

Prisoners count. But where?

That's a question state lawmakers across the country are grappling with as the 2020 census approaches.

Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, signed a bill to make his state the latest to require that prisoners be counted at their pre-incarceration addresses — instead of where they're serving time — to end the practice of what critics call "prison gerrymandering."

That's important, advocates say, because the Census Bureau currently counts prisoners as residents of the locations where they're imprisoned, and states use the census data to draw their legislative maps.

While a significant number of correctional facilities are located in comparatively rural areas that are largely Republican and predominantly white, prisoners tend to hail from urban, often Democratic communities and are disproportionately minorities, criminal justice experts told NBC News.