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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Spalding County, Georgia

According to the 2000 Census, Spalding County, Georgia has a population of 58,417 people. Of those, 38,846 (67%) are White, 18,141 (31%) are Black, and 947 (2%) are Latino[1]. However, 377 (or 1% of the 58,417 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 Spalding County a population of 58,040 with a demographic that is 67% White, 31% Black, and 2% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 58,417 377 58,040
White 38,846 134 38,712
Black 18,141 233 17,908
Latino 947 1 946


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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