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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Richland County, South Carolina

According to the 2000 Census, Richland County, South Carolina has a population of 320,677 people. Of those, 161,276 (50%) are White, 144,809 (45%) are Black, and 8,713 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 6,174 (or 2% of the 320,677 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 Richland County a population of 314,503 with a demographic that is 51% White, 45% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 320,677 6,174 314,503
White 161,276 1,637 159,639
Black 144,809 4,508 140,301
Latino 8,713 17 8,696


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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