By Nolan McKendry, The Center Square
(The Center Square) − A report from the Prison Policy Initiative says Louisiana’s political map gives unfair influence to residents in districts with large prison populations because of a Census Bureau policy the state continues to follow.
Because the Census counts incarcerated people as residents of the prison where they’re held, not their home communities, the districts where there are large prisons have more census-designated population.
Accordingly, political power in Louisiana is distorted, with legislative districts drawn in 2022 overrepresenting areas that host correctional facilities − even when those facilities are filled with people from elsewhere.
“This is about equal representation,” the report says. “Everyone in Louisiana is supposed to have an equal voice in their government’s decisions, but an outdated and misguided Census Bureau policy gives a few residents of the state a megaphone.”
The analysis spotlights three House districts – Districts 22, 18, and 32 – as the most distorted. In District 22, for example, roughly 12% of the counted population is behind bars. That means 88 residents there wield as much political power as 100 people in an average district.
Even more striking: two of the largest federal prisons in Districts 22 and 32 mostly house people from out of state. Of the thousands incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in those areas, only about 1% are from Louisiana.
That means communities surrounding the facilities gain political weight based on people who neither live there nor vote there – and who are often transferred in and out regularly.
The distortion also impacts representation for immigrant populations. Louisiana hosts five of the 20 largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, and detainees are often held for only short periods. Yet they’re still counted in local populations on Census Day, potentially skewing representation further.
“Being incarcerated in a specific facility doesn’t make someone a resident of the surrounding district,” the report says.
Though courts ruled in 2024 that Louisiana’s current maps unconstitutionally dilute Black representation, lawmakers have not adopted a new redistricting plan – raising concerns that the problem will persist into the next cycle, and possibly beyond 2030.
Being disproportionately incarcerated, Black Louisianans are more likely to be counted in the wrong place during redistricting, according to the report. In just three districts, about 7,000 Black people were miscounted this way – reducing their political influence and reinforcing racial inequalities in representation.
Louisiana law explicitly defines residency as a place where a person intends to stay indefinitely, and by that standard, prison cells do not qualify, the report says.
“The Census Bureau’s policy doesn’t even comply with state law,” the report says.
Over 200 local jurisdictions and more than a dozen states have moved to fix the issue. Louisiana has not.
“Louisianans are falling behind,” the report says, “letting the state’s democracy continue to be skewed by an outdated federal system.”
