Northampton redistricting delayed due to change in inmate rules

Northampton’s redistricting process has been slightly delayed due to changes in the 2020 Census’ process of how it counts inmates.

In previous Census counts, inmates were attributed to the district where they were currently incarcerated, meaning large prisons were overweighted in the counts and given more representation.

A new 2020 rule stated that the inmates should be counted in the district where they resided before incarcertation.

County Administrator Charlie Kolakowski told the Northampton Board of Supervisors Tuesday night the data on Northampton’s incarcerated population was delayed, but he is expecting the redistricting changes to be completed Wednesday and he will get the Supervisors the map as soon as possible.

Supervisor Betsy Mapp questioned how the change affected Northampton County.

“One of our districts has approximately 50 prisoners currently,” replied Kolakowski.

A public hearing on the new map is currently scheduled to be held at the November work session, with a board vote to take place at the December meeting.

.