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
Appendix C. Pennsylvania county and prison demographics.
County Population White population Black population Latino population Prisoners (state and federal) Black prisoners Latino prisoners Percent incar­cerated Percent Black incar­cerated Percent Latino incar­cerated
Adams 91,292 87,088 1,105 3,323 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Allegheny 1,281,666 1,080,800 159,058 11,166 1,841 1,238 101 0.1% 0.8% 0.9%
Armstrong 72,392 71,173 592 308 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Beaver 181,412 167,890 10,811 1,315 98 38 1 0.1% 0.4% 0.1%
Bedford 49,984 49,253 178 263 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Berks 373,638 329,460 13,778 36,357 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Blair 129,144 126,059 1,535 662 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Bradford 62,761 61,471 251 398 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Bucks 597,635 552,588 19,495 14,005 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Butler 174,083 170,302 1,367 1,016 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Cambria 152,598 146,183 4,322 1,352 2,153 918 363 1.4% 21.2% 26.8%
Cameron 5,974 5,904 21 34 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Carbon 58,802 57,520 353 858 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Centre 135,758 124,134 3,544 2,243 1,999 1,025 165 1.5% 28.9% 7.4%
Chester 433,501 386,745 27,040 16,126 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Clarion 41,765 40,998 329 172 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Clearfield 83,382 81,218 1,239 471 2,034 1,077 199 2.4% 86.9% 42.3%
Clinton 37,914 37,264 197 205 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Columbia 64,151 62,602 516 609 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Crawford 90,366 87,653 1,437 537 598 283 50 0.7% 19.7% 9.3%
Cumberland 213,674 201,716 5,048 2,883 3,308 1,662 456 1.5% 32.9% 15.8%
Dauphin 251,798 194,158 42,580 10,404 58 24 5 0% 0.1% 0%
Delaware 550,864 442,449 79,981 8,368 967 679 108 0.2% 0.8% 1.3%
Elk 35,112 34,746 52 142 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Erie 280,843 255,282 17,202 6,126 1,946 997 190 0.7% 5.8% 3.1%
Fayette 148,644 141,657 5,223 564 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Forest 4,946 4,745 110 60 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Franklin 129,313 123,279 3,016 2,268 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Fulton 14,261 14,012 94 52 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Greene 40,672 38,665 1,585 357 2,142 1,350 186 5.3% 85.2% 52.1%
Huntingdon 45,586 42,544 2,342 524 3,140 1,858 295 6.9% 79.3% 56.3%
Indiana 89,605 86,796 1,407 457 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Jefferson 45,932 45,457 59 188 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Juniata 22,821 22,376 85 369 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Lackawanna 213,295 206,160 2,793 2,958 37 4 0 0% 0.1% 0%
Lancaster 470,658 430,456 12,993 26,742 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Lawrence 94,643 89,894 3,416 529 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Lebanon 120,327 113,662 1,548 5,969 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Lehigh 312,090 271,590 11,097 31,881 53 14 9 0% 0.1% 0%
Luzerne 319,250 308,476 5,408 3,713 2,700 1,486 267 0.8% 27.5% 7.2%
Lycoming 120,044 112,737 5,189 799 868 431 60 0.7% 8.3% 7.5%
McKean 45,936 44,312 860 485 1,368 744 240 3.0% 86.5% 49.5%
Mercer 120,293 112,031 6,318 803 947 382 94 0.8% 6.0% 11.7%
Mifflin 46,486 45,803 226 263 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Monroe 138,687 122,342 8,343 9,195 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Montgomery 750,097 648,510 55,969 15,300 3,404 2,377 362 0.5% 4.2% 2.4%
Montour 18,236 17,628 185 167 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Northampton 267,066 243,639 7,400 17,868 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Northumberland 94,556 91,803 1,439 1,041 1,428 761 153 1.5% 52.9% 14.7%
Perry 43,602 42,964 189 301 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Philadelphia 1,517,550 683,267 655,824 128,928 229 177 22 0% 0% 0%
Pike 46,302 43,109 1,513 2,315 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Potter 18,080 17,729 52 103 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Schuylkill 150,336 145,249 3,147 1,671 4,390 2,383 597 2.9% 75.7% 35.7%
Snyder 37,546 36,768 307 368 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Somerset 80,023 77,938 1,275 532 2,142 1,164 255 2.7% 91.3% 47.9%
Sullivan 6,556 6,266 144 72 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Susquehanna 42,238 41,621 128 285 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Tioga 41,373 40,589 250 214 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Union 41,624 37,496 2,878 1,622 5,290 2,499 1,174 12.7% 86.8% 72.4%
Venango 57,565 56,208 626 298 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Warren 43,863 43,286 90 151 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Washington 202,897 193,297 6,606 1,170 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
Wayne 47,722 46,160 757 811 1,105 395 133 2.3% 52.2% 16.4%
Westmoreland 369,993 357,325 7,446 1,869 923 518 92 0.2% 7.0% 4.9%
Wyoming 28,080 27,598 149 187 0 0 0 0% 0% 0%
York 381,751 354,103 14,095 11,296 33 17 4 0% 0.1% 0%

Sources and methodology

Population
This is the total population reported in Census 2000, Summary File 1, Table P1.
White population
This is the number of people reporting "White Alone" in Census 2000 Summary File 1, Table P7.
Black population
This is the number of people reporting "Black Alone" in Census 2000 Summary File 1, Table P7.
Latino population
This is the number of people reporting "Hispanic or Latino" in Census 2000 Summary File 1, Table P7.
Party
Party of incumbent, July 2007
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 and excluded all others. See methodology for more detail.
Black prisoners
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.
Latino prisoners
The Census publishes the ethnicity of the correctional population at the tract level in Summary File 1, Table PCT17H and at the block level for the total population in Table P11. We used these two data sources to identify the number of Latino prisoners incarcerated in state or federal prisons in blocks in this district.
Percent incarcerated
This is the portion of the population reported in the Census that is incarcerated.
Percent Black incarcerated
This is the portion of the Black population reported in the Census that is in a state or federal prison in the county.
Percent Latino incarcerated
This is the portion of the Latino population reported in the Census that is in a state or federal prison in the county.

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