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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Pecos County, Texas

According to the 2000 Census, Pecos County, Texas has a population of 16,809 people. Of those, 12,749 (76%) are White, 738 (4%) are Black, and 10,262 (61%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,973 (or 12% of the 16,809 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 Pecos County a population of 14,836 with a demographic that is 77% White, 1% Black, and 64% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 16,809 1,973 14,836
White 12,749 1,315 11,434
Black 738 645 93
Latino 10,262 696 9,566


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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