New MD law, first of its kind, tallies inmates as residents of last perm. address-not prison loc

[The Straight Story]

Baltimore will gain residents in prison count shift
New Maryland law, first of its kind, tallies inmates as residents of last permanent address, not location of prison

For more than two decades, Rico Marzano called prison cells in Jessup and Cumberland his home.

But this year, the convicted murderer serving four consecutive life sentences will be recorded as a Baltimore resident, even though he won't step foot in his Frankford neighborhood any time soon.

Marzano and thousands of other Maryland inmates are being reclassified under a contentious law approved this month by Gov. Martin O'Malley that alters how prison populations are counted during the once-a-decade census.

Maryland became the first state to decide that inmates should be considered residents of the jurisdiction of their last permanent address, and not of the prisons where they are housed. The change came after the Census Bureau announced it would be providing states with detailed data about institutionalized groups such as the military and college students in time for redistricting efforts.

The decision has significant implications for Baltimore, which has been losing population for decades, and which produces as many as 6 in 10 of the state's 21,000 inmates.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-inmate-census-20100425,0,6607785,full.story