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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Franklin County, Washington

According to the 2000 Census, Franklin County, Washington has a population of 49,347 people. Of those, 30,553 (62%) are White, 1,230 (2%) are Black, and 23,032 (47%) are Latino[1]. However, 606 (or 1% of the 49,347 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 Franklin County a population of 48,741 with a demographic that is 62% White, 2% Black, and 47% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 49,347 606 48,741
White 30,553 431 30,122
Black 1,230 117 1,113
Latino 23,032 167 22,865


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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