Author: Jonathan Shead

As Michigan’s redistricting panel prepares to approve new legislative boundaries this month, some activists say proposed maps give rural areas outsized clout because of how inmate populations are counted. Even though the roughly 35,000 people serving sentences in Michigan prisons can’t vote, they are counted as residents of prisons where they are held for purposes of representation. Opponents call that “prison gerrymandering” because it inflates the population — and power — of smaller communities.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state’s redistricting panel violated the state Constitution when it met behind closed doors to discuss secret memos used to draw the state’s new political boundaries. Several hours after the ruling, the commission released the memos around 11:30 p.m.