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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Prince George County, Virginia

According to the 2000 Census, Prince George County, Virginia has a population of 33,047 people. Of those, 20,135 (61%) are White, 10,753 (33%) are Black, and 1,625 (5%) are Latino[1]. However, 2,222 (or 7% of the 33,047 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 Prince George County a population of 30,825 with a demographic that is 64% White, 30% Black, and 4% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 33,047 2,222 30,825
White 20,135 558 19,577
Black 10,753 1,464 9,289
Latino 1,625 262 1,363


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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