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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Gadsden County, Florida

According to the 2000 Census, Gadsden County, Florida has a population of 45,087 people. Of those, 17,448 (39%) are White, 25,763 (57%) are Black, and 2,782 (6%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,228 (or 3% of the 45,087 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 Gadsden County a population of 43,859 with a demographic that is 39% White, 57% Black, and 6% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 45,087 1,228 43,859
White 17,448 451 16,997
Black 25,763 728 25,035
Latino 2,782 61 2,721


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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