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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Johnson County, Texas

According to the 2000 Census, Johnson County, Texas has a population of 126,811 people. Of those, 114,142 (90%) are White, 3,166 (3%) are Black, and 15,375 (12%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,284 (or 1% of the 126,811 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 Johnson County a population of 125,527 with a demographic that is 90% White, 2% Black, and 12% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 126,811 1,284 125,527
White 114,142 671 113,471
Black 3,166 454 2,712
Latino 15,375 353 15,022


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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