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 a decade ago, the Prison Policy Initiative put numbers on the problem and sparked the movement to end prison gerrymandering.

Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.

—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Orleans Parish, Louisiana

According to the 2000 Census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana has a population of 484,674 people. Of those, 135,956 (28%) are White, 325,947 (67%) are Black, and 14,826 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 6,160 (or 1% of the 484,674 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 Orleans Parish a population of 478,514 with a demographic that is 28% White, 67% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 484,674 6,160 478,514
White 135,956 688 135,268
Black 325,947 5,367 320,580
Latino 14,826 135 14,691


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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