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S 2304Elections & Voting

Elections - Residence of Individuals in Government Custody Act

This bill mandates that prisoners be counted at their home addresses, rather than prison locations, for political redistricting purposes.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Jan 23, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation changes how the state counts incarcerated individuals for the purpose of drawing political districts (redistricting). Currently, prisoners are often counted as residents of the town where the prison is located. This bill requires the Department of Corrections to track the last known home address of inmates. When new political maps are drawn, these individuals will be counted at their home addresses rather than the prison location. This ensures that representation reflects where people actually live. It explicitly states that this data change will not affect the distribution of state or federal financial aid.

For younger readers

When the government draws maps to decide which politicians represent which neighborhoods, they have to count how many people live in each area. Right now, people in prison are counted as living in the prison building. This bill changes the rules so that people in prison are counted as if they were still living at their real homes. This helps make sure that the neighborhoods where these people come from have the fair amount of representation in the government, rather than giving too much power to the town where the prison is built.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Incarcerated individualsVoters in CranstonVoters in urban districtsDepartment of CorrectionsDivision of Statewide Planning
Impacted communities
Cranston, All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Eliminates "prison gerrymandering," ensuring that low-income communities and communities of color, which are disproportionately impacted by incarceration, retain their appropriate political representation and power.
  • Upholds the democratic principle of "one person, one vote" by preventing districts with large prisons from having artificially inflated voting power at the expense of other districts.
  • Recognizes the humanity and residency of incarcerated individuals by treating them as members of their home communities rather than mere statistics used to boost the influence of the area incarcerating them.
  • Explicitly excludes the use of this data for the distribution of state and federal aid, meaning the home communities of incarcerated individuals will not receive the financial resources needed to support those families or reentry programs.
  • Incarcerated individuals with unknown or out-of-state addresses are removed from the specific geographic count entirely, potentially leaving a segment of the population unrepresented in any specific district.
  • Relies heavily on the Department of Corrections to accurately collect and report pre-incarceration data, creating a dependency on the carceral system to ensure fair democratic representation.
For Conservatives
  • Improves the statistical accuracy of census data by ensuring individuals are counted where they legally maintain a domicile, rather than a temporary government facility.
  • Protects the financial interests of rural towns hosting prisons by explicitly stating that this population shift applies to voting districts only and will not reduce state or federal aid distributions based on population.
  • Maintains the distinction that while prisoners are counted for population purposes, the bill does not alter laws regarding their eligibility to vote while incarcerated.
  • Dilutes the political influence of rural or conservative districts that house correctional facilities (such as Cranston) by shifting population counts—and therefore legislative seats—toward urban centers.
  • Creates additional bureaucratic mandates and administrative costs for the Department of Corrections to track, maintain, and report detailed demographic data to state planners.
  • May be viewed as a move to artificially inflate the political power of urban areas that typically vote for opposing ideologies by utilizing the incarcerated population count.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 85 additions

SECTION 1. Legislative purpose, declaration and findings. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure that persons in government custody within the state are counted at their actual residence for redistricting purposes. The general assembly notes that § 17-1-3.1 provides: "A person's residence for voting purposes is his or her fixed and established domicile… A person can have only one domicile, and the domicile shall not be considered lost solely by reason of absence for any of the following reasons:…Confinement in a correctional facility…". Investigation has shown that, despite these provisions, the census continues to classify incarcerated persons, as residents of their places of incarceration, rather than of their home addresses. The provisions of this chapter are necessary to provide procedures and duties to correct this discrepancy.

SECTION 2. Title 17 of the General Laws entitled "ELECTIONS" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 17-31-1. Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Residence of Individuals in Government Custody Act." 17-31-2. Electronic record. The department of corrections shall collect and maintain an electronic record of the legal residence, presumptively outside of the facility, and other demographic data, for any person entering its custody after January 1, 2027. At a minimum, this record shall contain the last known complete street address prior to incarceration, the person's race, whether the person is of Hispanic or Latino origin, and whether the person is over the age of eighteen (18) years. 17-31-3. Reports to the division of statewide planning.

(a) By May 1 of each year, the department of corrections shall deliver to the division of statewide planning, the following information for each person incarcerated in the department's facilities, as of April 1 that year:

(1) The street address of the correctional facility, in which such person was incarcerated;

(2) If known, the last known address of such person prior to their incarceration or other legal residence;

(3) If known, the person's race, whether the person is of Hispanic or Latino origin, and whether the person is over the age of eighteen (18) years;

(4) For any person who entered the department’s custody prior to January 1, 2027, the department shall provide all information specified in subsections (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this section, that exists in its records; and

(5) Any additional information, as the division of statewide planning may request pursuant to law.

(b) The department shall provide the information specified in subsection (a) of this section, in such form as the division of statewide planning shall specify.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of the general or public laws to the contrary, the information required to be provided to the division of statewide planning pursuant to this section, shall not include the name of any incarcerated person and shall not allow for the identification of any person therefrom, except to the department of corrections. The information shall be treated as confidential, and shall not be disclosed by the division of statewide planning, except as redistricting data aggregated by census block for purposes, which they may require. 17-31-4. Federal facilities. The division of statewide planning shall request each agency that operates a federal facility in this state, that incarcerates persons convicted of a criminal offense, to provide the secretary of state, with a report including the information listed in § 17-31-3. 17-31-5. Requiring use of data in redistricting. The division of statewide planning shall prepare redistricting population data, to reflect incarcerated persons at their residential address, pursuant to § 17-31-3. The data prepared by the division of statewide planning pursuant to § 17-31-3, shall be the basis of congressional districts, state house of representative districts, state senate districts, and all local government districts that are based on population. Incarcerated populations residing at unknown geographic locations within the state, as determined under § 17-31-3, shall not be used to determine the ideal population of any set of districts, wards, or precincts. 17-31-6. Redistricting data publication by the division of statewide planning.

(a) For each person included in a report received under this chapter, the division of statewide planning shall determine the geographic units for which population counts are reported in the federal decennial census, that contain the facility of incarceration and the legal residence as listed according to the report.

(b) For each person included in a report received under this chapter, if the legal residence is known and in this state, the division of statewide planning shall:

(1) Ensure that the person is not represented in any population counts reported by the division of statewide planning, for the geographic units that include the facility at which the person was incarcerated, unless that geographic unit also includes the person's legal residence; and

(2) Ensure that any population counts reported by the division of statewide planning, reflect the person’s residential address as reported, pursuant to this chapter.

(c) For each person included in a report received under this chapter, for whom a legal residence is unknown or not in this state, and for all persons reported in the census as residing in a federal correctional facility, for whom a report was not provided, the division of statewide planning shall:

(1) Ensure that the person is not represented in any population counts reported by the division of statewide planning for the geographic units, that include the facility at which the person was incarcerated; and

(2) Allocate the person to a state unit not tied to a specific determined geography, as other state residents with unknown state addresses are allocated, including, but not limited to, military and federal government personnel stationed overseas.

(d) The data prepared by the division of statewide planning pursuant to this section, shall be completed and published no later than thirty (30) days from the date that federal decennial data is published for the State of Rhode Island or forty-five (45) days after the effective date of this chapter, whichever is later. 17-31-7. Annual reports by the secretary of state. For each report received from the department or federal agency under this chapter, the division of statewide planning shall review the data submitted for its completeness and publish its findings, including, but not limited to:

(1) The number of records that were missing data;

(2) The number of records that could not be geocoded; and

(3) For any records that could not be geocoded, a determination of which information was missing or otherwise made the record unable to be geocoded. 17-30-8. Use in aid. The data prepared by the division of statewide planning, as required by § 17-31-5 shall not be used in the distribution of any state or federal aid. 17-30-9. Severability. If any provision of this chapter or the application of any provision of this chapter to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the chapter, that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and for this purpose the provisions of this chapter are severable.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.