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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Mississippi County, Missouri

According to the 2000 Census, Mississippi County, Missouri has a population of 13,427 people. Of those, 10,463 (78%) are White, 2,757 (21%) are Black, and 129 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 87 (or 1% of the 13,427 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 Mississippi County a population of 13,340 with a demographic that is 78% White, 20% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 13,427 87 13,340
White 10,463 46 10,417
Black 2,757 34 2,723
Latino 129 4 125


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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