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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Anoka County, Minnesota

According to the 2000 Census, Anoka County, Minnesota has a population of 298,084 people. Of those, 279,133 (94%) are White, 4,756 (2%) are Black, and 4,961 (2%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,511 (or 1% of the 298,084 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 Anoka County a population of 296,573 with a demographic that is 94% White, 1% Black, and 2% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 298,084 1,511 296,573
White 279,133 855 278,278
Black 4,756 409 4,347
Latino 4,961 142 4,819


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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