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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Webb County, Texas

According to the 2000 Census, Webb County, Texas has a population of 193,117 people. Of those, 158,670 (82%) are White, 713 (0%) are Black, and 182,070 (94%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,212 (or 1% of the 193,117 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 Webb County a population of 191,905 with a demographic that is 82% White, 0% Black, and 94% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 193,117 1,212 191,905
White 158,670 1,207 157,463
Black 713 4 709
Latino 182,070 1,178 180,892


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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