Help End Prison Gerrymandering Prison gerrymandering funnels political power away from urban communities to legislators who have prisons in their (often white, rural) districts. More than two decades ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.

Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.

—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

State and federal prison populations in Illinois counties

Appendix D. State and federal prison populations in counties.
County Prison pop­ulation Black prison population Pop­ulation White pop­ulation Black pop­ulation Percentage of county population in state or federal prison Percentage of Black population in state or federal prison Percentage of county that is White
Adams 150 113 68,277 64,932 2,094 0.2% 5.4% 95.1%
Alexander 468 328 9,590 6,040 3,347 4.9% 9.8% 63.0%
Bond 1,611 850 17,633 16,000 1,306 9.1% 65.1% 90.7%
Boone 0 0 41,786 37,643 375 0% 0% 90.1%
Brown 1,912 1,260 6,950 5,580 1,265 27.5% 99.6% 80.3%
Bureau 0 0 35,503 34,365 116 0% 0% 96.8%
Calhoun 0 0 5,084 5,023 2 0% 0% 98.8%
Carroll 0 0 16,674 16,164 91 0% 0% 96.9%
Cass 0 0 13,695 13,000 61 0% 0% 94.9%
Champaign 107 59 179,669 141,536 20,045 0.1% 0.3% 78.8%
Christian 1,194 641 35,372 34,077 758 3.4% 84.6% 96.3%
Clark 0 0 17,008 16,801 34 0% 0% 98.8%
Clay 0 0 14,560 14,345 16 0% 0% 98.5%
Clinton 1,530 1,025 35,535 33,470 1,391 4.3% 73.7% 94.2%
Coles 0 0 53,196 50,734 1,215 0% 0% 95.4%
Cook 1,058 711 5,376,741 3,025,760 1,405,361 0% 0.1% 56.3%
Crawford 1,221 785 20,452 19,139 927 6.0% 84.7% 93.6%
Cumberland 0 0 11,253 11,123 12 0% 0% 98.8%
De Witt 0 0 16,798 16,430 82 0% 0% 97.8%
DeKalb 0 0 88,969 78,704 4,084 0% 0% 88.5%
Douglas 0 0 19,922 19,375 60 0% 0% 97.3%
DuPage 0 0 904,161 759,924 27,600 0% 0% 84.0%
Edgar 367 295 19,704 19,137 362 1.9% 81.5% 97.1%
Edwards 0 0 6,971 6,892 10 0% 0% 98.9%
Effingham 0 0 34,264 33,804 56 0% 0% 98.7%
Fayette 1,437 1,018 21,802 20,499 1,064 6.6% 95.7% 94.0%
Ford 0 0 14,241 13,982 35 0% 0% 98.2%
Franklin 0 0 39,018 38,485 59 0% 0% 98.6%
Fulton 1,947 1,249 38,250 36,384 1,378 5.1% 90.6% 95.1%
Gallatin 0 0 6,445 6,340 17 0% 0% 98.4%
Greene 153 96 14,761 14,475 110 1.0% 87.3% 98.1%
Grundy 0 0 37,535 36,442 71 0% 0% 97.1%
Hamilton 0 0 8,621 8,470 58 0% 0% 98.2%
Hancock 0 0 20,121 19,855 41 0% 0% 98.7%
Hardin 153 117 4,800 4,580 132 3.2% 88.6% 95.4%
Henderson 0 0 8,213 8,090 21 0% 0% 98.5%
Henry 0 0 51,020 49,077 583 0% 0% 96.2%
Iroquois 0 0 31,334 30,059 223 0% 0% 95.9%
Jackson 57 18 59,612 48,158 7,759 0.1% 0.2% 80.8%
Jasper 0 0 10,117 10,031 8 0% 0% 99.1%
Jefferson 1,965 1,024 40,045 35,990 3,134 4.9% 32.7% 89.9%
Jersey 0 0 21,668 21,263 114 0% 0% 98.1%
Jo Daviess 0 0 22,289 21,991 44 0% 0% 98.7%
Johnson 2,640 1,789 12,878 10,756 1,825 20.5% 98.0% 83.5%
Kane 127 68 404,119 320,340 23,279 0% 0.3% 79.3%
Kankakee 0 0 103,833 82,954 16,065 0% 0% 79.9%
Kendall 0 0 54,544 50,658 718 0% 0% 92.9%
Knox 1,819 1,247 55,836 50,175 3,512 3.3% 35.5% 89.9%
La Salle 1,596 893 111,509 105,896 1,723 1.4% 51.8% 95.0%
Lake 0 0 644,356 516,189 44,741 0% 0% 80.1%
Lawrence 0 0 15,452 15,139 118 0% 0% 98.0%
Lee 2,200 1,294 36,062 33,422 1,772 6.1% 73.0% 92.7%
Livingston 2,612 1,718 39,678 36,629 2,053 6.6% 83.7% 92.3%
Logan 2,366 1,580 31,183 28,593 2,045 7.6% 77.3% 91.7%
Macon 380 251 114,706 95,760 16,130 0.3% 1.6% 83.5%
Macoupin 0 0 49,019 48,034 400 0% 0% 98.0%
Madison 0 0 258,941 233,645 18,935 0% 0% 90.2%
Marion 0 0 41,691 39,209 1,598 0% 0% 94.0%
Marshall 0 0 13,180 12,941 46 0% 0% 98.2%
Mason 0 0 16,038 15,849 19 0% 0% 98.8%
Massac 0 0 15,161 14,034 831 0% 0% 92.6%
McDonough 0 0 32,913 30,568 1,138 0% 0% 92.9%
McHenry 0 0 260,077 244,240 1,523 0% 0% 93.9%
McLean 0 0 150,433 134,170 9,305 0% 0% 89.2%
Menard 0 0 12,486 12,310 48 0% 0% 98.6%
Mercer 0 0 16,957 16,680 50 0% 0% 98.4%
Monroe 0 0 27,619 27,279 14 0% 0% 98.8%
Montgomery 1,989 1,039 30,652 29,083 1,143 6.5% 90.9% 94.9%
Morgan 999 627 36,616 33,811 1,961 2.7% 32.0% 92.3%
Moultrie 0 0 14,287 14,131 28 0% 0% 98.9%
Ogle 0 0 51,032 48,659 224 0% 0% 95.3%
Peoria 414 284 183,433 145,602 29,532 0.2% 1.0% 79.4%
Perry 2,167 1,418 23,094 20,681 1,851 9.4% 76.6% 89.6%
Piatt 0 0 16,365 16,173 39 0% 0% 98.8%
Pike 390 247 17,384 16,929 260 2.2% 95.0% 97.4%
Pope 0 0 4,413 4,117 166 0% 0% 93.3%
Pulaski 0 0 7,348 4,888 2,278 0% 0% 66.5%
Putnam 0 0 6,086 5,941 38 0% 0% 97.6%
Randolph 3,193 2,135 33,893 30,068 3,147 9.4% 67.8% 88.7%
Richland 0 0 16,149 15,852 47 0% 0% 98.2%
Rock Island 1,098 760 149,374 127,742 11,260 0.7% 6.7% 85.5%
Saline 0 0 26,733 25,166 1,085 0% 0% 94.1%
Sangamon 71 53 188,951 165,179 18,237 0% 0.3% 87.4%
Schuyler 0 0 7,189 7,103 16 0% 0% 98.8%
Scott 0 0 5,537 5,507 2 0% 0% 99.5%
Shelby 0 0 22,893 22,651 35 0% 0% 98.9%
St. Clair 596 423 256,082 173,970 73,666 0.2% 0.6% 67.9%
Stark 0 0 6,332 6,245 4 0% 0% 98.6%
Stephenson 0 0 48,979 43,733 3,761 0% 0% 89.3%
Tazewell 1,629 811 128,485 125,142 1,131 1.3% 71.7% 97.4%
Union 0 0 18,293 17,612 150 0% 0% 96.3%
Vermilion 1,826 1,273 83,919 72,032 8,882 2.2% 14.3% 85.8%
Wabash 0 0 12,937 12,660 51 0% 0% 97.9%
Warren 0 0 18,735 17,910 298 0% 0% 95.6%
Washington 0 0 15,148 14,933 50 0% 0% 98.6%
Wayne 0 0 17,151 16,930 26 0% 0% 98.7%
White 0 0 15,371 15,097 40 0% 0% 98.2%
Whiteside 0 0 60,653 56,294 616 0% 0% 92.8%
Will 4,018 2,642 502,266 411,027 52,509 0.8% 5.0% 81.8%
Williamson 608 248 61,296 58,441 1,527 1.0% 16.2% 95.3%
Winnebago 93 48 278,418 229,595 29,317 0% 0.2% 82.5%
Woodford 0 0 35,469 34,928 89 0% 0% 98.5%

Sources and methodology

Prisoners (state and federal)
This is the number of state and federal prisoners incarcerated in the district. The Census publishes the number of incarcerated people in each block in Summary File 1, Table P37. We then identified which incarcerated populations in each block were state or federal prisoners.
Black prison population
The Census publishes the race of the correctional population at the tract level in Summary File 1, Table PCT17B and at the block level for the total population in Table P7. We used these two data sources to identify the number of Black prisoners incarcerated in state or federal prisons in blocks in each district.
Population
This is the total population of each county as published by the Census Bureau in Table P1 of Summary File 1.
White population
This is the White population as published by the Census Bureau in Table P7 of Summary File 1.
Black population
This is the Black population as published by the Census Bureau in Table P7 of Summary File 1.
Percent of county population in state or federal prisons.
This is the prison population divided by the total county population.
Percent of county Black population in state or federal prisons.
This is the Black prison population divided by the total Black county population.
Percentage of county that is White.
This is the White population divided by the total county population.
Black resident population
This is the number of Blacks in the district who are not in state or federal prison.

Stay Informed

Get the latest updates:


And our other newsletters:







Stay Informed


Get the latest updates:



Share on 𝕏 Donate