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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Pulaski County, Illinois

According to the 2000 Census, Pulaski County, Illinois has a population of 7,348 people. Of those, 4,888 (67%) are White, 2,278 (31%) are Black, and 107 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 184 (or 3% of the 7,348 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 Pulaski County a population of 7,164 with a demographic that is 67% White, 31% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 7,348 184 7,164
White 4,888 87 4,801
Black 2,278 25 2,253
Latino 107 42 65


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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