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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Calaveras County, California

According to the 2000 Census, Calaveras County, California has a population of 40,554 people. Of those, 36,982 (91%) are White, 304 (1%) are Black, and 2,765 (7%) are Latino[1]. However, 222 (or 1% of the 40,554 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 Calaveras County a population of 40,332 with a demographic that is 91% White, 1% Black, and 7% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 40,554 222 40,332
White 36,982 136 36,846
Black 304 50 254
Latino 2,765 30 2,735


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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