TRENTON – State officials have changed the New Jersey census results in an effort to redraw the political maps for the next decade, reallocating 16,198 prisoners from the towns where they are held to the addresses where they previously resided.
Another 5,978 people were removed from the redistribution count entirely because their previous address is out of state or unclear – mostly federal inmates whose details have been declared prohibited.
The changes affect about 0.24% of the state’s total population, or one in 419 inhabitants.
Henal Patel, director of the democracy and justice program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said New Jersey has long been engaged in “prison electoral cheating,” counting those incarcerated as residents of the municipality where their prison is located – even if they are not really part of that community and never have been.
Nearly 62% of state inmates are black – and, according to Patel, their home communities are politically weakened, artificially boosting the influence of cities where they are locked up but cannot vote.
“Where we count people matters,” Patel said. “In this situation, for decades and decades, what we have been doing is using prison bodies, mostly black, to inflate the power of others. It is a compromise of three-fifths of modern times. It is therefore a great victory that we have ended this practice. It’s huge.”
Cumberland is the most affected
Cumberland County’s political weight is most affected by the adjustment, as its population of 154,152 will be treated as 147,094 for mapping purposes, a decrease of 4.6%. Burlington County is 1% smaller, and Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Essex are also seeing their redistribution numbers decline.
Most counties add residents to their population counts, as do 469 of the state’s 565 municipalities, reflecting former residents who were incarcerated elsewhere.
Detainees were removed from the tally of 26 municipalities that house prisons or halfway houses, although only 12 locations suffered a net loss after people were reassigned to their homes. Eight of them were reduced by more than 1,000, including four where nearly 3,000 or more inmates were reassigned out of town.
New Hanover’s population plunges by more than half, to 2,702 from 6,367. Maurice River is down almost half without its two state prisons. Newark’s tally was adjusted downward to 3,351 to reflect jail and halfway houses, but nearly 2,000 inmates were later added to its tally.
Patel said it was appropriate to count the detainees at their old home, where they have connections and are likely to return when released.
“This is their home. That’s where they come from, ”Patel said. “This is where their communities are. This is where their families are. This is where their children are. This is where they should be counted.
The feds will not share information
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not provide the requested data because the state’s request was not for law enforcement purposes and therefore said it was not authorized to release it. This affects 2,997 inmates at Fort Dix in Burlington County and 1,035 inmates at Fairton Correctional Complex in Cumberland County.
These prisoners – along with 1,114 state inmates who resided outside of New Jersey and 797 whose previous address was not known to the state, was incomplete, or was a PO box or rural route – are not nowhere counted for redistribution and are listed at “an unknown location in the state”.
A total of 5,958 people are assigned to no geography for the purposes of clipping.
The state had to compensate for some quirks and inaccuracies in census data, including seven census blocks where the Department of Corrections reported an inmate population – most in halfway houses – but the 2020 census did not. registered person living in group quarters.
County by county details
Atlantic County
2020 Census: 274,534
Adjusted population: 275,531
Removed: 6
Added: 1003
Change: 997
Percent change: 0.36%
Bergen County
2020 Census: 955,732
Adjusted population: 956,200
Removed: 8
Added: 476
Change: 468
Percent change: 0.05%
Burlington County
2020 Census: 461,860
Adjusted population: 457,230
Removed: 5,210
Added: 580
Variation: -4 630
Percent change: -1.00%
Camden County
2020 Census: 523,485
Adjusted population: 524,999
Removed: 297
Added: 1 811
Change: 1,514
Percent change: 0.29%
Cape May County
2020 Census: 95,263
Adjusted population: 95,518
Removed: 4
Added: 259
Change: 255
Percent change: 0.27%
Cumberland County
2020 Census: 154,152
Adjusted population: 147,094
Removed: 7,711
Added: 653
Change: -7,058
Percent change: -4.58%
Essex County
2020 Census: 863,728
Adjusted population: 863,421
Removed: 3,351
Added: 3 044
Change: -307
Percent change: -0.04%
Gloucester County
2020 Census: 302,294
Adjusted population: 302,670
Deleted: 0
Added: 376
Change: 376
Percent change: 0.12%
Hudson County
2020 Census: 724,854
Adjusted population: 725,887
Removed: 6
Added: 1 038
Change: 1,033
Percent change: 0.14%
Hunterdon County
2020 Census: 128,947
Adjusted population: 127,899
Removed: 1,084
Added: 36
Change: -1.048
Percent change: -0.81%
Mercer County
2020 Census: 387,340
Adjusted population: 385,636
Removed: 2,720
Added: 1 016
Change: -1,704
Percent change: -0.44%
Middlesex County
2020 Census: 863,162
Adjusted population: 862,610
Removed: 1703
Added: 1 151
Change: -552
Percent change: -0.06%
Monmouth County
2020 Census: 643,615
Adjusted population: 644,455
Removed: 4
Added: 844
Change: 840
Percent change: 0.13%
Morris County
2020 Census: 509,285
Adjusted population: 509,479
Removed: 9
Added: 203
Change: 194
Percent change: 0.04%
Ocean County
2020 Census: 637,229
Adjusted population: 637,786
Removed: 3
Added: 560
Change: 557
Percent change: 0.09%
Passaic County
2020 Census: 524,118
Adjusted population: 525,464
Removed: 49
Added: 1 395
Variation: 1,346
Percent change: 0.26%
Salem County
2020 Census: 64,837
Adjusted population: 64,987
Deleted: 0
Added: 150
Change: 150
Percent change: 0.23%
Somerset County
2020 Census: 345,361
Adjusted population: 345,641
Deleted: 2
Added: 282
Change: 280
Percent change: 0.08%
Sussex County
2020 Census: 144,221
Adjusted population: 144,333
Deleted: 0
Added: 112
Change: 112
Percent change: 0.08%
Union County
2020 Census: 575,345
Adjusted population: 576,460
Removed: 7
Added: 1 122
Change: 1,115
Percent change: 0.19%
Warren County
2020 Census: 109,632
Adjusted population: 109,716
Deleted: 2
Added: 86
Change: 84
Percent change: 0.08%
Michael Symons is the State House bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. Contact him at [email protected].
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