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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Muskogee County, Oklahoma

According to the 2000 Census, Muskogee County, Oklahoma has a population of 69,451 people. Of those, 44,261 (64%) are White, 9,142 (13%) are Black, and 1,857 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,829 (or 3% of the 69,451 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 Muskogee County a population of 67,622 with a demographic that is 64% White, 13% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 69,451 1,829 67,622
White 44,261 924 43,337
Black 9,142 605 8,537
Latino 1,857 50 1,807


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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