Dear editor:
Regarding Joan Barron’s recent column on prison gerrymandering, I’m sorry to say that she should be hearing “some groaning out there” (brought about by her own reporting). The piece attempts to paint this as an issue of great importance to the state, yet she provides ZERO examples of this; I guess we must take her word for it.
Regarding “Wyoming’s ghost constituents,” an inquiry to Perplexity (an online AI service) indicates that in 2022 the number of prisoners in Wyoming was about 2200 and the state headcount is currently about 585,000 residents, so we are talking about less than one-half of one percent of the population.
These must be some very powerful people in that Joan suggests that this tiny group of convicted felons is somehow “hinder(ing) the election of legislators” and that this is a “terribly unfair policy.” Really? Too bad she didn’t explain how and provide examples to better educate the readers.
Unfortunately, facts and details were in short supply when building this platform, but such critical omissions aside, it is nice to know that Joan is pleased that a think tank from Massachusetts is getting involved in Wyoming’s business.
Given that the rest of the article is liberally sprinkled with many more suspiciously unsupported statements, I can only conclude it is a thinly veiled position paper, written to sell soap for The Prison Policy Initiative (based in deep blue Easthampton, Mass.) and its like-minded supporters.
So, Dear Editors, if this truly is an important issue, perhaps a real effort at an investigative report on Prison Gerrymandering, the Prison Policy Initiative organization, and who finances could be made to the benefit of the state and Cowboy State Daily readers.
And do us all a favor, please assign someone other than Joan Barron to the task.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jeff Ware, Sheridan
