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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Screven County, Georgia

According to the 2000 Census, Screven County, Georgia has a population of 15,374 people. Of those, 8,234 (54%) are White, 6,963 (45%) are Black, and 147 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 158 (or 1% of the 15,374 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 Screven County a population of 15,216 with a demographic that is 54% White, 45% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 15,374 158 15,216
White 8,234 32 8,202
Black 6,963 120 6,843
Latino 147 9 138


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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