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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Osceola County, Florida

According to the 2000 Census, Osceola County, Florida has a population of 172,493 people. Of those, 133,169 (77%) are White, 12,702 (7%) are Black, and 50,727 (29%) are Latino[1]. However, 903 (or 1% of the 172,493 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 Osceola County a population of 171,590 with a demographic that is 77% White, 7% Black, and 29% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 172,493 903 171,590
White 133,169 598 132,571
Black 12,702 224 12,478
Latino 50,727 195 50,532


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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