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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—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Richmond County, North Carolina

According to the 2000 Census, Richmond County, North Carolina has a population of 46,564 people. Of those, 30,193 (65%) are White, 14,215 (31%) are Black, and 1,319 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 775 (or 2% of the 46,564 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 Richmond County a population of 45,789 with a demographic that is 65% White, 30% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 46,564 775 45,789
White 30,193 235 29,958
Black 14,215 509 13,706
Latino 1,319 26 1,293


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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