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Incarceration impacts all of San Diego County \u2014 but some communities are more affected than others.<\/p>\n
New data from the Prison Policy Initiative<\/a> shows 8,800 residents of San Diego County were living in California state prisons at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. And a disproportionate number of them are coming from Southern San Diego neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Incarceration can have a generations-long negative impact on the families and loved ones of those who are put behind bars. People of color and people from other marginalized groups are more likely to be incarcerated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Imprisonment has the greatest impact on communities with more people of color, the data shows. In City Heights, Barrio Logan, Encanto and Southeast San Diego, incarceration rates are roughly double the state average.<\/p>\n The disparity doesn\u2019t come as a surprise to Laila Aziz, the director of operations at Pillars of the Community<\/a>, a nonprofit that focuses on criminal justice reform. She said San Diego\u2019s communities of color have long been overrepresented in jails and prisons.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, residents in Encinitas, La Jolla and Coronado \u2014 some of the wealthiest areas of the county \u2014 are about half as likely as the average Californian to be living behind bars.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re still having a disparity in Black and brown folks being sentenced more harshly and for longer time periods,\u201d Aziz said.<\/p>\n The new data provides one of the clearest pictures yet of how imprisonment affects California communities. It was compiled after the state passed a historic law<\/a> to end \u201cprison gerrymandering,\u201d which classified incarcerated people as residents of the towns they are imprisoned in, rather than the towns they come from.<\/p>\n Criminal justice reform groups have long sought to end the practice, arguing it inflates the U.S. Census counts for locations with more prisons, which are often rural with small populations. Those totals are used to draw regional boundaries and can impact state legislative districts.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re giving rural towns overrepresentation,\u201d Aziz said.<\/p>\n Incarceration has been linked to higher rates of poverty<\/a>, mental illness<\/a> and adverse health conditions<\/a>. It can have a multi-generational impact<\/a> on families.<\/p>\n Show more<\/p>\n <\/amp-iframe><\/p>\n Advocacy groups say prison gerrymandering hides the real impact of mass incarceration on the communities left behind when its residents are serving time \u2014 and takes away voting power from those districts.<\/p>\n The 2020 U.S. Census is the first time<\/a> the state\u2019s new law has been implemented. Aziz said the reform helps address an important problem, but pointed out that people in California prisons are still not eligible to vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a decrease of power, and it\u2019s purposeful,\u201d Aziz said.<\/p>\n Criminal justice reform groups say more work needs to be done to prevent the underlying causes of incarceration and to help people reenter society when they return from jail or prison.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re over-sentencing them,\u201d Aziz said. \u201cThey\u2019re coming back with worse issues than what they had, and yet they\u2019re told to be better. And that\u2019s how it harms our community.\u201d<\/p>\n News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nWhy this matters<\/h3>\n
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