A report released by advocates on Wednesday reveals that voters in eastern Oregon, Salem, and other predominantly rural areas with prisons possess greater influence in the state House than their urban counterparts. This discrepancy arises from the way the state counts the residency of incarcerated individuals.
The report, produced by the Prison Gerrymandering Project under the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative, argues that Oregon should revise its redistricting process ahead of the 2030 Census. Specifically, it suggests counting incarcerated individuals at their last known address rather than at their current location of imprisonment. In Oregon, individuals convicted of felonies lose their voting rights until they complete their sentences.
According to the report, “This gives residents of state legislative districts that include correctional facilities a disproportionately loud voice in government, enabling them to exert significant influence over discussions on childcare, school funding, food assistance, medical release for incarcerated individuals, and other critical issues, to the detriment of nearly all other Oregonians.”
The findings come in the wake of a December 2024 report from the federal Census Bureau, which indicated that states are seeking more assistance regarding the counting of prisoners. The federal government’s current policy defines residency based on where individuals “live and sleep most of the time,” yet the report claims that nearly half of Americans reside in areas where local inmate populations are not automatically included in redistricting. This issue affects states such as California, Montana, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
The authors of the report highlight ongoing efforts to adjust the counting of incarcerated populations in cities like Salem and Pendleton, referencing Oregon’s constitutional provision that states confinement in a public prison does not alter a person’s residency for voting purposes. They argue that current practices disproportionately inflate representation in seven House districts containing prisons, diluting the voices of Black and Native communities, which are often overrepresented in incarceration statistics.
The most notable example is the expansive 60th House District, represented by Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane. This district stretches along much of Oregon’s border with Idaho and extends into Deschutes County. Within this district, over 3,800 residents—5.4% of the district’s population—are incarcerated in facilities such as Snake River Correctional Facility, Warner Creek Correctional Facility, and Powder River Correctional Facility. The report notes that more than half of the Black individuals counted in this district are housed in local correctional facilities. Rep. Owens did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
