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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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

According to the 2000 Census, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania has a population of 213,674 people. Of those, 201,716 (94%) are White, 5,048 (2%) are Black, and 2,883 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 3,666 (or 2% of the 213,674 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 Cumberland County a population of 210,008 with a demographic that is 95% White, 2% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 213,674 3,666 210,008
White 201,716 1,864 199,852
Black 5,048 1,730 3,318
Latino 2,883 470 2,413


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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