(Map: Prison Policy Initiative, 2011)

This map originally appeared in Testimony of Peter Wagner Before the Special Joint Committee on Redistricting of the Massachusetts General Court on May 31, 2011.

In this example from the last round of redistricting, the 3rd Suffolk District had a Census population of 37,986, just above the then-minimum of 37,698. But this district reached that population only by claiming the 1,549 people incarcerated at the Suffolk County House of Correction as residents. The actual population of this district was about 8% below the ideal district size, giving every 92 actual residents of this district the influence of 100 residents in other parts of the state.