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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—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Monroe County, Florida

According to the 2000 Census, Monroe County, Florida has a population of 79,589 people. Of those, 72,151 (91%) are White, 3,795 (5%) are Black, and 12,553 (16%) are Latino[1]. However, 567 (or 1% of the 79,589 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 Monroe County a population of 79,022 with a demographic that is 91% White, 5% Black, and 16% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 79,589 567 79,022
White 72,151 386 71,765
Black 3,795 147 3,648
Latino 12,553 123 12,430


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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