Congress moves to end prison gerrymandering in 2030 census

What it does

This bill changes how the U.S. Census counts incarcerated people for the purposes of drawing congressional districts. Currently, incarcerated individuals are counted as residents of the prison location, which inflates the population of districts containing prisons—often rural areas—and deflates the representation of the communities where those people actually lived before incarceration. The bill requires the Census Bureau to count incarcerated people at their last address before prison, starting with the 2030 census, and requires states to use that same address when redrawing congressional districts. This shifts representation back toward the communities where incarcerated people's families and social ties actually are.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a structural fix to census methodology that corrects how incarcerated populations are counted for congressional apportionment. It is fundamentally a voting-rights and democratic-representation measure, not a criminal-justice or prison-reform bill per se—though it has consequences for both.

What the text implies

• The bill's effect on apportionment will be modest in the 2030 census but may compound over time if incarceration rates remain high, gradually shifting representation from rural to urban/minority-plurality districts.
• States with large rural prison populations (e.g., upstate New York, rural California) may see reduced apportionment; states with incarcerated populations concentrated in urban areas may see minimal change.
• The bill does not address the underlying question of whether incarcerated individuals should be counted in apportionment at all—it only changes where they are counted, leaving the 'one person, one vote' question unresolved.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Incarcerated individuals and their home communities regain proportional representation in Congress that was previously diluted by the prison-location counting method. The bill corrects a structural distortion that has concentrated political power in rural prison districts at the expense of urban and minority communities, which disproportionately supply the incarcerated population.

Named in the bill

U.S. Census Bureau, Secretary of Commerce, State legislatures (redistricting authority), Congress (apportionment), Title 13, United States Code, Apportionment Act of 1929

Where it stands

12 cosponsors: 12 Democrats.

• Feb 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 4, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.