The effort to end prison gerrymandering in Illinois

In January, when Illinois lawmakers approved a comprehensive measure to overhaul criminal justice and policing, the legislation contained a provision that would effectively end prison gerrymandering. Today, prisoners across the country are counted by the U.S. Census as residents of legislative districts with prisons, rather than at a person’s last known address. Critics of the process say it artificially inflates the population of counties with prisons, giving those areas more federal money. On this episode of The CloutCast, Joel Ebert talks to Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Common Cause Illinois executive director Jay Young about prison gerrymandering and the effort to end it in Illinois.