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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Quay County, New Mexico

According to the 2000 Census, Quay County, New Mexico has a population of 10,155 people. Of those, 8,336 (82%) are White, 85 (1%) are Black, and 3,857 (38%) are Latino[1]. However, 74 (or 1% of the 10,155 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 Quay County a population of 10,081 with a demographic that is 82% White, 1% Black, and 38% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 10,155 74 10,081
White 8,336 72 8,264
Black 85 0 85
Latino 3,857 37 3,820


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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