The Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) is a criminal justice oriented American public policy think tank based in Easthampton, Massachusetts. It is a non-profit organization, designated 501(c)(3) by the IRS. It is the “leading public critic”[2] of the United States Census Bureau’s practice of counting prisoners as residents of the towns where they are incarcerated, and has conducted research in several states proving that this practice results in distortion of equal representation.

The Prison Policy Initiative’s publications include “Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York”, “Why the Census Bureau can and must start collecting the home addresses of incarcerated people”, and “Phantom constituents in the Empire State: How outdated Census Bureau methodology burdens New York counties”. It has also published the Democracy Toolkit [1], an internet tool designed for rural democracy activists, allowing them to use PPI’s research procedures to study their own communities.

The Prison Policy Initiative.org
Prison Policy Initiative – Main Web Page
Prison Policy Initiative – Video Library
Publications and Research Findings

Recommended Readings
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017
Following the Money of Mass Incarceration
States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2016
States of Women’s Incarceration: The Global Context
The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration
Detaining the Poor:
Punishing Poverty: