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 Director
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Randolph County, Illinois

According to the 2000 Census, Randolph County, Illinois has a population of 33,893 people. Of those, 30,068 (89%) are White, 3,147 (9%) are Black, and 521 (2%) are Latino[1]. However, 3,201 (or 9% of the 33,893 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 Randolph County a population of 30,692 with a demographic that is 95% White, 3% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000
Incarcerated
population
Actual
population
Total 33,893 3,201 30,692
White 30,068 821 29,247
Black 3,147 2,139 1,008
Latino 521 280 241


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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