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.

Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.

—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Westchester County, New York

According to the 2000 Census, Westchester County, New York has a population of 923,459 people. Of those, 658,858 (71%) are White, 131,132 (14%) are Black, and 144,124 (16%) are Latino[1]. However, 4,932 (or 1% of the 923,459 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 Westchester County a population of 918,527 with a demographic that is 72% White, 14% Black, and 16% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 923,459 4,932 918,527
White 658,858 1,263 657,595
Black 131,132 3,137 127,995
Latino 144,124 1,205 142,919


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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