How will Green Rock affect Pittsylvania County?

The 1,000 prisoners at Green Rock Correctional Center from Pennsylvania could be added to Pittsylvania County’s population — a move that may impact redistricting in 2011.

That has the chairman of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors concerned about its effects on the county.

“It would be nice if they didn’t factor them in (for redistricting purposes),” said Board Chairman Hank Davis after a public hearing on redistricting held at the Regional Center for Technology and Training Monday night.

Redistricting time for voting districts for the 2011 elections is approaching and the state is holding public hearings all over Virginia to gather input for the process. The public hearing was held by the Redistricting Subcommittee of the House of Delegates’ Committee on Privileges and Elections.

The redistricting of boundaries for congressional districts, state legislatures and local governments like the Board of Supervisors is done every 10 years to reflect population changes after the U.S. Census is conducted.

The prisoners at Green Rock cannot vote, but that’s a minor issue since they’re from Pennsylvania, Davis said. If they’re included, they would make up 10 percent to 12 percent of the population in a county voting district, he said. 

The U.S. Census Bureau will determine whether the out-of-state prisoners would be factored in the redistricting process, Privileges and Elections Committee Chairman Mark Cole, R-88^th district, said after the hearing.

“It will be up to the federal government,” Cole said.

The Danville Register & Bee reported in March that inmates at Green Rock would be added to the county’s population in the 2010 Census, which would impact redistricting and the political power in the county.

Green Rock is a state prison that opened in 2007.

Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said in March that the Department of Corrections would provide inmate populations to the Census through its headquarters.

Elizabeth Jones, branch secretary for the Pittsylvania County NAACP and a youth advisor on its youth council, said after the meeting that she would like to see the Banister District — a predominantly African-American district with a black supervisor, William Pritchett — kept in place.

In addition, Jones said the NAACP supports the requirement under the Voting Rights of 1965 that localities in states with a history of discriminatory voting practices, including Pittsylvania County, go through preclearence with the U.S. Department of Justice before a redistricting is apporved.

Some counties are buying out of the requirements, Jones said. The NAACP supports continuation of the requirement in Pittsylvania County, she added.