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50 ■ JUNE 7, 2021 CLOSING ARGUMENT

EDITORIAL BOARD

Connecticut Chips Away at

Structural Racism

n its final weeks, we commend the General Under Senate Bill 753, the census data used
Assembly for enacting meaningful responses to draw legislative districts would be adjusted to
Ito the existence of “structural racism” in Con- count inmates as residents of their last address
necticut’s laws, regulations and public practices by prior to incarceration. The inclusion of an amend-
approving two prominent measures. ment to allow the counting of inmates serving
The term “structural racism” in the pending leg- life sentences without the possibility of parole as
islation means a system that structures opportunity residents of the prison address—affecting perhaps
and assigns value in a way that disproportionately only 4 percent of the inmate population—helped
and negatively impacts people of color. ensure a nearly-unanimous state Senate approval
The first bill would legislate an end to by a vote of 35-1. The House subsequently passed
“prison gerrymandering” in Connecticut’s decen- the amended bill and Gov. Ned Lamont signed it
nial apportionment of legislative into law.
districts. Under prison ger- In a December 2019 edito-
rymandering, inmates in state rial, we urged ending prison
correctional facilities are count- gerrymandering prior to the
ed as residents of the town in completion of the census but are
which their prison is located Racism should be gratified it may now be changed
rather than in the municipality recognized as a public prior to redistricting.
of their pre-prison residence. A second important measure,
Why is this a “structurally rac- health crisis in Connecticut, SB1, states “that racism con-
ist” practice? The racial makeup as it has in other states stitutes a public health crisis in
of the state’s prison population is and local communities. this state” and establishes a new
44 percent black and 28 percent Commission on Racial Equity in
Hispanic. Following the cen- Public Health to both investigate
sus in 2010, it was determined and make recommendations to
that more than half of the state’s decrease the effect of racism on
prison population had resided public health. Held shortly be-
before incarceration in New fore the George Floyd murder
Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Britain. trial, the bill’s public hearing provided numer-
But since most state correctional facilities are in ous testimonies of unacceptable racial disparities,
more rural and less racially diverse towns, such ranging from students of color with asthma, po-
as Somers and Enfield, the governance impact of lice profiling, shorter adult life expectancy, higher
the prison gerrymander is to disproportionately child mortality, segregated housing, insufficient
reduce the voting power of minority-dominated healthy food, lead poisoning, school detentions,
urban districts while unfairly increasing the vot- incarcerations, employment and access to health
ing power of the rural towns hosting state prisons. insurance, among others.
Prison gerrymandering thus “disproportionally The commission is assigned the tasks of in-
and negatively impacts people of color.” vestigating the impact racism has on vulnerable

CONNECTICUT
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