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.

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Talladega County, Alabama

According to the 2000 Census, Talladega County, Alabama has a population of 80,321 people. Of those, 53,830 (67%) are White, 25,339 (32%) are Black, and 812 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 2,342 (or 3% of the 80,321 people) are not residents by choice but are people in prison.

Even though prisoners cannot participate in the local community, the Census Bureau nevertheless counts them as residents of the county where they are incarcerated.

A more accurate description would not include the prisoners. This would give Talladega County a population of 77,979 with a demographic that is 68% White, 31% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 80,321 2,342 77,979
White 53,830 804 53,026
Black 25,339 1,473 23,866
Latino 812 201 611


Notes:

[1]The numbers for Whites, Blacks and Latinos may not add up to the total number because we have not included racial groups other than Whites and Blacks and because the Census Bureau considers "Latino" to be an ethnicity, not a race. Most of the people reported as being Latino are also counted as being White or Black.



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