HARTFORD, Conn. - A coalition of organizations wants Connecticut to end the practice of counting prisoners as residents of the towns where the prisons are located. It's known as "prison gerrymandering," and civil-rights advocates say it undermines the principle of "one person, one vote."
Peter Wagner, executive director of the Prison Policy Initiative, said a disproportionate number of incarcerated people come from urban minority communities, but prisons are located in predominately white, rural areas.
"There are state House districts that are 10 or 15 percent incarcerated," he said. "So, every nine people who live near some of the prisons in Enfield are represented in the Legislature as if they were 10 people anywhere else in the state."
The coalition, which includes the Hispanic Federation, the ACLU and the League of Women Voters, has prepared a bill it hopes to see introduced in the state Legislature.
Some lawmakers are concerned that counting prisoners as residents of their home communities rather than where they are imprisoned will deprive their constituents of funds distributed by census count. However, Wagner pointed out that the draft bill specifically states that adjusted redistricting data would not be used to affect any state or federal funding formulas.
"So, this is a bill that's about fair representation for everyone in the state who does not live immediately next to a large prison," he said.
Although people serving time for felony convictions are barred from voting, about half of prisoners in Connecticut are serving short sentences for misdemeanors or are awaiting trial and are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in their home districts.
Bills to end prison gerrymandering have been introduced over the past five years but have never come to a vote in the Legislature. Wagner said he is optimistic that this one will become law.
"Because we're doing it early, there's more people talking about it," he said, "and I think that the Legislature understands this is a problem that they have to fix - and I'd like to think that they want to get ahead of this problem."
Similar bills have been passed in New York, Maryland, Delaware and California.
The proposed bill is online at prisonersofthecensus.org.
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President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the arrival of immigrants an invasion and has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to expedite their removal, including 137 people now in an El Salvador prison.
Last week, a federal judge in Colorado disagreed with Trump's interpretation of the 1798 law and granted a temporary restraining order, halting deportations until May 6.
Tim Macdonald, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado, said the statute does not apply to individuals crossing the U.S. border, even if they were members of a gang.
"The Alien Enemies Act, the statute that grants this wartime power, applies only when there is a declared war, or an invasion, or predatory incursion against the United States by a foreign nation or government," Macdonald outlined.
The decision comes on the heels of other federal court rulings ordering the Trump administration to stop Alien Enemies Act deportations, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump has criticized the rulings, claiming activist judges are allowing violent criminals to remain in the country.
Nine in 10 of the people now confined in El Salvador had no criminal record and at least one was removed because of an administrative error. The 10th Circuit judge in Colorado also ruled people cannot be removed without 21 days notice.
Macdonald argued all people in the U.S., regardless of their immigration status, have rights, including access to a judge to review the facts of their case.
"We know they're making mistakes, they've acknowledged they are making mistakes," Macdonald pointed out. "They're life-threatening ones when they send people to a foreign prison where they may never see the light of day again."
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he also intends to send "homegrown" American citizens to the El Salvador facility. Macdonald says if the administration can successfully deprive people of their basic rights, his future use of the power could become a slippery slope.
"When civil rights are threatened, they're threatened for everybody," Macdonald asserted. "Listeners should be concerned that the government is acting in a lawless way to deprive people of their liberty. And the question is, who's next?"
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Five years after George Floyd's murder by a white police officer sparked nationwide protests and demands for police reform, progress remains slow, including in Washington.
State legislators passed a number of police reforms a year after Floyd's death, including banning chokeholds and "no-knock" raids. One law banning police pursuits was later rolled back. Despite the changes, 2024 was one of the deadliest years for police killings in Washington, with almost 50 deaths.
Dom Campese, communications leader for the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, said at least 10 cases involved police pursuits.
"We need people to step up to the plate. We need legislators to work with us," Campese urged. "We need law enforcement to work with us, and we can enact sensible alternatives to what's currently happening."
Nationwide, police killed more people in 2024 than any year in more than a decade and Black people have died at disproportionate rates. Research shows most killings by police begin with traffic stops, mental health checks and other nonviolent offenses.
The coalition has been pushing the state to create an Office of Independent Prosecutions to handle officer-involved shootings, rather than leaving charging decisions with local prosecutors. Campese argued the current system is flawed because when cases are reopened, they go back to the same prosecutor who made the initial decision. He believes it creates potential conflicts of interest due to prosecutors' close ties with police.
"We would like to see officers held accountable when they break the law, and when someone ends up dying at their hand," Campese stressed.
The Washington Legislature has approved a plan to provide $100 million to hire more police officers. The bill would also allow local governments to increase the sales tax without voter approval to pay for criminal justice expenses.
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January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and educators are training workers in key industries to recognize and report the crime, including energy workers in places like Montana.
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit people for sex or labor.
Lindsey Mattson, director of industry engagement for the group TAT, formerly known as Truckers Against Trafficking, said the industry makes big illicit profits globally, second only to the drug trade.
TAT now trains groups across the transportation sector that are likely to intersect with traffickers including energy workers and people working at truck stops and dealerships.
"We can mobilize millions of people to move from passive bystanders to active disrupters," Mattson explained. "That is really our goal, is to train as many people as possible throughout all transportation industries to truly have an impact on fighting this crime."
Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen have prioritized addressing human trafficking in Montana. A 2023 law increased penalties for both traffickers and patrons. The state's Department of Justice worked nearly 130 cases related to trafficking in 2024.
Mattson stressed energy workers are vital eyes and ears on the ground, because they may use the same gas stations and hotels as traffickers. The workers themselves are targeted because they are often stationed in one place.
"They look for concentrations of men housed away from home with purchasing power," Mattson noted. "For the energy industry, something like a work camp or project location."
TAT has trained nearly 2 million professionals to identify and report the crime, including 50,000 energy workers in 43 companies.
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