老澳门开奖结果

In a precedent-setting ruling, U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux issued a decision today holding that the City of Cranston violated the one person, one vote requirements of the U.S. Constitution when it allocated the entire incarcerated population of the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) as 鈥渞esidents鈥� of one ward of the City when it drew district lines for the City Council and School Committee following the 2010 Census. The ruling allows the City 30 days to present the Court with a new redistricting plan meeting constitutional requirements.

Today鈥檚 ruling, just the second of its kind in the nation, concluded that the City artificially inflated the population count of Ward 6, where the ACI is located, by treating all incarcerated persons as 鈥渞esidents鈥� of the prison for redistricting purposes. Doing so, said the court, violates the rights of persons residing in other wards to equal representation as required by the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled that our fight for equal representation has been successful,鈥� said Karen Davidson, lead plaintiff. 鈥淔airness in redistricting is a fundamental right and I鈥檓 glad that the court has vindicated our claims.鈥�

At issue in the case was the City of Cranston鈥檚 choice to count the more than three thousand inmates at the ACI in a single city ward for the purposes of drawing City Council and School Committee districts. Plaintiffs argued this 鈥減rison gerrymandering鈥� was improper because those incarcerated at the ACI are not true constituents of local elected officials, but instead remain residents of their pre-incarceration communities for virtually all legal purposes, including voting.

Judge Lagueux agreed with the plaintiffs鈥� claims, stating that 鈥渢he ACI鈥檚 inmates lack a 鈥榬epresentational nexus鈥� with the Cranston City Council and School Committee.鈥� He noted that 鈥淐ranston鈥檚 elected officials do not campaign or endeavor to represent their ACI constituents,鈥� and pointed out that that the majority of incarcerated persons cannot vote, and those who can are required by law to vote by absentee ballot from their pre-incarceration address.

Due to the questionable counting, persons at the only state-run correctional facility in Rhode Island account for 25% of Ward 6鈥檚 total 鈥減opulation.鈥� According to Census Bureau data, without the incarcerated population, Ward 6 has only 10,209 true constituents. Yet those constituents now wield the same political power as the roughly 13,500 constituents in each of the other wards.

Cranston residents Karen Davidson, Debbie Flitman, Eugene Perry, and Sylvia Weber joined the 老澳门开奖结果 of Rhode Island as plaintiffs in the case. They were represented in federal court by Demos, the Prison Policy Initiative, the 老澳门开奖结果, and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Rhode Island.

"This is a big win for democracy,鈥� said Adam Lioz of Demos, counsel for the plaintiffs. 鈥淧rison gerrymandering distorts representation and should no longer be tolerated. This decision should pave the way for other courts to address this long-standing problem.鈥�

鈥淲e applaud the court鈥檚 decision requiring the City to correct its prison gerrymandering problem without delay,鈥� said Steven Brown, executive director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Rhode Island. 鈥淚t is time for Cranston to stop holding elections under a one-person, three-quarters of a vote regime.鈥�

鈥淐ounting people at the ACI as constituents of Ward 6 officials made no sense,鈥� said Aleks Kajstura of the Prison Policy Initiative. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 use the park or library, attend a City Council meeting, or send their kids to public schools. And, even those who can vote must do so from their actual legal residence, not the prison location.鈥�

鈥淭his ruling means that Cranston can no longer play games with our democracy by artificially inflating the political power of one district over another. People who are incarcerated should be counted as residents of the districts where they lived, not as so-called 'residents' of where they are involuntarily confined,鈥� said Sean Young, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果's Voting Rights Project.

老澳门开奖结果 of RI volunteer attorney Lynette Labinger added: 鈥淭he 老澳门开奖结果 first urged the City to redraw its district lines four years ago in order to protect the rights of voters in the City鈥檚 five other wards. I am gratified that they should soon have their voices heard in equal measure with those in Ward 6.鈥�

The case is Davidson et. al. v. City of Cranston. Plaintiffs鈥� complaint can be found and their response to Defendant鈥檚 motion to dismiss is . Judge Lagueux鈥檚 ruling is