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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Fayette County, Kentucky

According to the 2000 Census, Fayette County, Kentucky has a population of 260,512 people. Of those, 211,120 (81%) are White, 35,116 (13%) are Black, and 8,561 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 2,927 (or 1% of the 260,512 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 Fayette County a population of 257,585 with a demographic that is 81% White, 13% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 260,512 2,927 257,585
White 211,120 1,490 209,630
Black 35,116 1,213 33,903
Latino 8,561 368 8,193


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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