Too big to ignore:
How counting people in prisons distorted Census 2000

By Rose Heyer and Peter Wagner
Prison Policy Initiative
April 2004

• Press release
• Executive Summary
• Report:
  • Introduction
  • Impact on county size
  • Impact on race, ethnicity and age statistics
  • Impact on gender statistics
  • Impact on income statistics
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
• Interactive data tables

Followup research and articles, often with data tables

• Census data asks: Where are the Hispanic children? But it's the wrong question October 11, 2004
• Outdated methodology impairs Census Bureau's count of Black population May 3, 2004
• Prison expansion made 56 counties with declining populations appear to be growing in Census 2000 April 26, 2004
• Twenty one counties have twenty one percent of their population in prisons and jails April 19, 2004