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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—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Mayagüez Municipio, Puerto Rico

According to the 2000 Census, Mayagüez Municipio, Puerto Rico has a population of 98,434 people. Of those, 81,971 (83%) are White, 5,530 (6%) are Black, and 97,467 (99%) are Latino[1]. However, 679 (or 1% of the 98,434 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 Mayagüez Municipio a population of 97,755 with a demographic that is 84% White, 6% Black, and 99% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 98,434 679 97,755
White 81,971 328 81,643
Black 5,530 109 5,421
Latino 97,467 677 96,790


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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