Residents of Groveland, New York, upstate in Livingston County, have something to get excited about. According to a report put out this year, 62 percent of the town’s population is incarcerated. That, in itself, is not something to be thrilled about, but because of the way the federal government counts prison populations, the presence of so many convicts gives a resident of Groveland 2.5 times the voting power of people living elsewhere in the county and more clout that their downstate counterparts.
The scenario is repeated elsewhere in New York State and across the country. It has prompted a growing discomfort with the voting power of upstate districts as opposed to downstate ones and spurred efforts to change the way the U.S. Census counts prisoners. The Census counts prisoners where they are incarcerated rather than where they came from. That count, conducted every 10 years, is used to draw lines for local, state and federal legislative districts and ensure all residents have equal representation and access to government. Because the Census inflates the population in areas with prisons – and in New York that tends to be more rural, upstate counties – it gives the residents of those districts more representatives in the state legislature and the House of Representatives than they would otherwise have. As a result, New York advocates and elected officials want the bureau to change the way it counts prisoners before the upcoming census in 2010.
This debate over this issue is particularly stark in New York. The so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws, enacted in 1973, have made New York State one of the strictest in the country for minimum sentencing of first time drug offenders. Since implementation of the laws, the prison population has grown tremendously. Today 65 percent of the state’s prisoners come from New York City, but the Census counts them as residents of the upstate areas – even though New York State law defines residency as a place of “voluntary” inhabitance and prisoners are not voting members of the communities in which they are incarcerated.
Including prisoners as residents of the counties where they are incarcerated gives those areas increased political clout, according to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative. Advocates argue that this practice has a huge impact on the drawing of district lines, especially at the local level.
Groups such as the Brennan Center for Justice, DEMOS, Citizens Against Recidivism and the Coalition for Parole Restoration argue that including prison populations in the place of their incarceration “dilutes” demographics by enlarging or qualifying districts for more representation than their actual population deserves.
Based on 2000 Census information used to draw district lines, Queens contains some of the most over-populated State Senate districts in New York with about 4 percent more people than average, according to one study. In short, Queens residents are under-represented in Albany, since their districts have far more people than some of the upstate ones.
The report found that 16 counties in the state included prisoners in their population numbers, while 13 others chose not to. The issue is a difficult one for counties. Sifting through Census population reports to determine the number of prisoners in a county can be a daunting task, according to Peter Wagner, executive director of Prisoner Policy Initiative and author of the report. As a result, Wagner writes, counties must choose between using inaccurate Census data to redraw district lines or adjusting population totals to exclude prisoners. Including prisoners can create imbalance at the local level, giving people in some parts of a county more voting power than those in other areas of the same county. Of the 16 counties including incarcerated people, five contained at least one city district where prisoners made up over 20 percent of the population — Chautauqua, Livingston, Oneida, Madison and St. Lawrence.
Some elected officials and advocates want all counties to exclude prisoners before drawing district lines. This, though, would be only half the battle. The Census Bureau does not provide counties with sufficient personal information so that those prisoners can be counted back in their home districts.
While some advocates would like to see the Census Bureau change its policy on counting prisoners in counties, the likelihood that this will happen in time for 2010 appears slim. There is, however, an interim step. The Census Bureau report on county populations used to draw district lines does not indicate how many of the people in the total population are prisoners. The report that does provide that information comes out several months later, after many states have redrawn new district lines. To deal with this, some advocates want the Census Bureau to release its prison counts earlier so district lines can be drawn based on the population of actual residents.
State Senator Eric Schneiderman, whose district includes the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Washington Heights and Inwood, has announced a formal letter writing campaign to call upon the Census Bureau to change its policy for counting prisoners as well as including prisoner information in the initial Census to allow counties to more accurately draw district lines. “Disenfranchised people become an undeserved source of political power for legislators who benefit from locking up more people for longer sentences,” Schneiderman said.
Other elected officials also have called on the Census Bureau to collect the home addresses of all incarcerated people in the next census. “By counting prisoners in the places where they are incarcerated, the Census Bureau is effectively shortchanging my constituents from receiving fair representation,”said Assemblymember Adriano Espaillat.
Schneiderman has introduced legislation in the Senate to bring the counties into compliance with the state constitution’s definition of residency as a person’s “voluntary” residence. The legislation, also sponsored in the Assembly by Espaillat, would require state and local prison facilities to collect home addresses of all prisoners. The information would be provided to the State Board of Elections and used to adjust Census Bureau population data by noting where prisoners legally reside and mandating that the revised data be used to draw congressional, state and county districts.
As the Census draws nearer and legislators prepare for another round of redistricting, excluding prison populations from district numbers could put a number of upstate rural representatives at risk of losing their seats, given the unequal balance of district sizes across the state. At the same time, it would create new districts in the city.
For advocates and elected officials trumpeting the cause, there is some optimism. Wagner believes that after counties are presented with the proper data, they will remove prisoners from their counts. “We are expecting all of [the counties] to do it,” he said. But for now, everyone in Queens and other reportedly underrepresented counties will have to wait and hope all this activity means that in the next decade their votes will be worth a little more than they are today.
Andrea Senteno is program associate for Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette. Jay Cerrato is a research and policy intern.
My friend and I were walking toward the subway, relieved to be out of school, when we heard a voice behind us. “You,” the voice said. It was deep and authoritative.
I turned to see a man dressed in a light blue shirt and dark pants. “Security officer,” I thought. I was ready to ignore him -- after all, I wasn’t in school anymore. Then I noticed the gun at his waist. He was a police officer.
Walking toward us, he signaled to my friend. “Let me see your ID.” My friend handed the card over to the officer. Turning it over in his hand, the officer looked at him, his eyes hidden behind shades. “Go to the dean’s office to get this back,” he said. He turned and walked away.
It was the second time that week that one of my friends had given their school ID to a police officer only to be told they would have to get it back at school the next day. This constitutes a major inconvenience, since students need their IDs to get into their school, Brooklyn Technical High School. To get the ID back, they have to go through another entrance and convince the security agents that they are students by jumping through hoops such as showing a class schedule and then answering questions to prove its theirs. This can take around 20 minutes -- just to get in the school.
More commonly, police will tell Brooklyn Tech students sitting on the steps of nearby apartment buildings, standing in the doorways of corner stores or hanging out on crowded sidewalks to go home.
Students can no longer hang out outside the school or even in the area. The police do not allow it. What was once a mass of chatting teens spread over several blocks has become a steady line of pedestrians, headed to the subway. And the situation is not limited to Brooklyn Tech.
When teens at Youth Communication, a nonprofit youth media organization, surveyed students at high schools around the city, they found that being reprimanded by police has become a normal part of teenage life in New York. Police officers have started clamping down on teens hanging out where, since time immemorial, they have always hung out: around their schools.
Of the 19 students surveyed from throughout the five boroughs, only four said that their schools and the local police allowed them to stay outside their school after classes ended. Many others responded as though the very idea was foolish. “Of course, no,” gawked Yaki Lin, 17, a student at Flushing International High School in Queens.
The teens said that both school security agents and the police regularly told them to “move along.” Some said that police even escorted students to the next block. This approach is not limited to so-called dangerous schools – ones cited by the state for high incidents of crime or required by the Department of Education to use metal detectors to scan all students entering the building.
New York City has the authority to institute this policy at any public school due to a section of the New York Penal Law, which says that a person is guilty of loitering when he or she “loiters or remains in or about school grounds, a college or university or grounds or a children’s overnight camp.”
Last February, Lee McCaskill, who was then principal at Brooklyn Tech, told the student body that the police clampdown on loitering near the school was prompted by safety concerns. Students from Tech were being robbed by outsiders and getting involved in fights, he explained in an announcement on the school’s Web site. “We are working very closely with the 88th precinct and other law enforcement officials to identify those involved in acts such as rowdiness, fighting, assault and even robbery,” the announcement read. It went on to ask the students to “whenever possible, travel in groups and leave” in a timely manner.
“ Students not involved in after-school activities should leave the school area immediately. Do not hang out near the subway, on our neighbor's property or other inappropriate areas. The officers of the 88th precinct may also ask you to move swiftly to your destination,” it continued,
A recent call to the New York City Police Department confirmed that the police presence at Tech was a response to fights and robberies in the neighborhood.
Students surveyed at other schools revealed that complaints from people who live near the school spurred police to approach students and tell them to find somewhere else to socialize.
“ We can’t stay next to the building because people in the neighboring apartment buildings complained to the school over noise,” said Ilya Arbit, 17, from Edward R. Murrow High Schoolin Brooklyn.
Many students find the policy inconvenient, especially if they live far from the school or want to wait for friends. “The police presence forced us to rush our after-school plans,” said Lionel Cox, 19, a former student at Tech, which draws students from all over the city. “We weren’t allowed to wait for friends who hadn’t left school yet or who were still in stores.”
Some of the teens surveyed have learned to outwit the police by walking, instead of standing, in front of the school building. As long as they do not stop in any one spot, the logic goes, they will not attract police attention. Others simply move to a block where police are less likely to go.
Many more teens end up spending money in local stores or businesses near their schools -- pizza parlors, corner stores, billiard halls or bowling alleys - just so they have a place to hang out with friends after classes end. And as they hang out in these establishments, the teens say, they buy and eat junk food. As private property, stores are not covered by the loitering laws.
A few especially productive students have found that after-school clubs, such as debate teams and the Model UN, provide a good way to socialize with classmates after school, far from the watchful eyes of the NYPD. But over all, when it comes to facing police officers or extracurricular activities, most teens choose the police.
Donald Moore is now a senior at City-as-School in Brooklyn. This article is adapted from the pages of our partner youth communication.
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The case of two civil rights lawyers who say they were victims of police abuse has attracted outrage among ministers and other black leaders who say that New Yorkers, particularly people of color, continue to suffer mistreatment at the hands of the police department.
The case occurred as several reports have highlighted problem with police conduct. In August, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the independent board charged with investigating police behavior, found that the police department is increasingly unlikely to prosecute officers on charges of misconduct. A month later, the New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the complaint board itself for being too lax and lenient on the police. And even according to the mayor's own statistics, complaints against the police continue to increase.
The Warren Case
Against this backdrop, the new Interfaith Commission on Police Accountability gathered on the steps of City Hall on September 13 to protest alleged abuse. "Too frequently, we listen to accounts of the young and the old regarding their mistreatment at the hands of some of the members of the New York City Police Department," a statement signed by 12 religious leaders said. "And while residents of our communities suffer indignities, personal injury and in some cases death, we see no meaningful efforts on the part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to eliminate the problem."
The ministers expressed outraged over the arrests of Evelyn and Michael Warren. The Warrens, who appeared at the rally, are civil rights attorneys who are married to each other.
Michael Warren told the News that he saw officers hitting a handcuffed suspect in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, at around 6 p.m. in June 21. "It reminded me of lions chasing down a zebra," Michael Warren said. "We got out of our cars. ... We expressed our concerns and requested that it stop."
Michael Warren said he then returned to his car but Sgt. Steven Talvy came after him. According to Michael Warren he was punched by an officer and forcibly removed from the vehicle."
Michael Warren, who specializes in police brutality cases, was charged with obstructing government administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Evelyn Warren faces disorderly conduct charges. "I got hit in the jaw, upside the head and on my lip a few times, and you can see that my pants are torn, but I'm fine. I'm great," Michael Warren told a crowd of 20 supporters the next day. Evelyn Warren was allegedly struck as well.
A police source told the News that officers were arresting a man on drug and theft charges when the Warrens stopped their car to criticize them. The source also said Evelyn Warren scratched an officer's face while she was being arrested.
The Warrens' cases will next be heard on October 23 in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Demands for Change
Whatever happens in the Warren case, the ministers at the September 13 interfaith press conference want changes in the way the city deals with the police. When the 30 or so ministers and their supports were asked whether they themselves had been subjected to police abuse, virtually every hand went up, however reluctantly.
Police abuse is "not just against Michael Warren-and his wife who are exemplary citizens, but those not as high profile who get even worse abuse," said State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem. He called the police department "out of control" and said that many in the black community feel "terrorized."
The interfaith group put forth four proposals that in one form or another have been kicking around for decades. They are seeking:
In another recommendation, City Councilmember Charles Barron of East New York called for passage of a bill mandating that police interrogations be videotaped or recorded. This, he said, would have the effect of "protecting the officers and those falsely accused." But the office of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had no response to any of the proposals put forth at the press conference. While hearings were held in the spring on police-community relations, no substantive legislative agenda has come out of them.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board
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The city does have mechanisms intended to improve police-community relations, but critics charge they are not effective.
The number of complaints has risen dramatically in the last several years. Civilian complaints against members of the department went up by almost 50 percent from fiscal year 2003 to 2007, with 7,662 complaints last year. The department attributed the increase to the creation of the city's 311 non-emergency hot line, which has made it easier to file a complaint.
In its report "Mission Failure: Civilian Review of Policing in New York City, 1994 - 2006," the civil liberties union said: "Even as complaints of police misconduct have increased sharply over the past five years, the CCRB has been closing more than half of all complaints without an investigation." (For a commentary on theboard by its former executive director, see "The Failure of Civlian Oversight".
Overall, the board has substantiated only about 5 percent of the complaints -- well below national averages. Andrew Case, a spokesman for the board, maintained that many of the complaints were not pursued because the person filing the charge did not follow through as required. Many complainants,he said, fail to appear at the board's office and make the required formal statements.
Case agreed with the comment on the police department's failure to cooperate with the board, but disputed the NYCLU's computation of its substantiation rate.
"True to form, the NYCLU has distorted or ignored the facts to reach its predetermined conclusions," Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne said in a statement. "The NYCLU cherry-picks data and information, much of it outdated, to distort findings."
To remedy the situation, the NYCLU offered several proposals for reform. These include establishing an office to conduct audits of the complaint board, providing more resources to the board and setting up complaint board units in each borough.
Even in those cases where the Civilian Complaint Review Board does find wrongdoing, the police department frequently rejected the board's findings and recommendations. "When discipline is imposed," the report states, "it is often strikingly lenient in light of the severity of the misconduct documented by the CCRB."
The NYCLU could get support for this contention from the complaint board itself. From March 1 to June 30, the police department declined to seek internal departmental trials against 31 officers, most of whom were charged with stopping people in the street without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, according to figures from the board reported in the New York Times. In comparison, over the previous four years, the department reportedly declined to pursue only 49 officers.
The police department has faulted the board for the decline in prosecutions, saying it does not apply "appropriate legal standards." But some at the board disagree. They reportedly believe the department is simply too easy on its people.
"Misconduct is part of a continuum of behavior and the police commissioner is entitled to draw the line wherever he wants to draw it, meaning he can impose discipline where he sees fit," board chair Franklin Stone told the Times. "But he cannot tell us that the standard we are applying is inappropriate or suddenly, after 14 years, that it has become inappropriate."
A Troubled Past
The city's attempts to deal with civilian complaints of police abuse have a troubled history, recounted on the complaint board's own web site. And the New York Civil Liberties Union has a history of advocating to make it stronger.
When Mayor John Lindsay put four people from outside the department on a review board in the late 1960s, police union president John Cassese said, "I'm sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting."
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association proposed a referendum to bar civilians from the board, and it passed overwhelmingly. The City Council restored civilian participation in 1986 and in 1993, and under Mayor David Dinkins, the board became the all-civilian body we have today.
But that move spurred controversy. In September 1992, 10,000 police rallied outside City Hall to protest the Dinkins administration's policy on several issues, including the mayor's support for City Council legislation creating a truly civilian board and his opposition to issuing 9mm guns to police. Journalist Wayne Barrett has recounted future Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's participation in this race-tinged rally. "He screamed 'bullshit' twice in a condemnation of Dinkins' actions." When Giuliani beat Dinkins in 1993, he quickly moved to slash the complaint board's budget.
The issue of civilian review of the police has remained largely absent from the front pages since. The arrests of Evelyn and Michael Warren, working their way through the courts and being protested in the streets, may not be high profile enough to force all sides to sit down together and hammer out some new reforms. But the incident has clearly touched a long-frayed nerve, especially among black New Yorkers. "We need things to change," said Rev. Charles Curtis, pastor of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem at the press conference. "We pray that something will be said to cause change."
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