Republicans are once again battling to have legislative district lines drawn with prison inmates counted in their jail cells -- not at their last-known addresses -- using their regained majority in the state Senate to renege on earlier promises to leave such decisions up to a non-partisan citizen's council. They are seeking to negate the new Census Adjustment Act, which passed as part of a larger spending bill in August and directs the state Department of Correctional Services with the last known address for all 58,237 inmates in jail on April 1, 2010 for redistricting purposes. "I raised doubts then, as I do now, that this is constitutional," said Sen. Mike Nozzolio, one of the Republicans on the task force. "We're reviewing a number of options, and we're analyzing what would be the most appropriate course to block this provision." The Senate GOP is also looking into getting upstate constituents to file lawsuits to have the provision overturned. Seven GOP senators pushing the matter currently live in districts that would not meet minimum population counts without counting prisoners as residents, according to data from the 2000 census compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative.



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Without the prisoners, a finite land area would be divided among fewer legislators, while the New York City area -- the same institute estimated 43,000 inmates from the five boroughs are incarcerated upstate -- would gain. District lines are drawn every 10 years as new census data becomes available. LATFOR has performed this process since the 1980s, after court decisions in the 1960s rendered illegal New York's system of letting counties draw lines. The Times Union, reporting on the situation on Jan. 31, says the whole kit and kaboodle is now expected to result in a prolonged legal battle.