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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Ouachita Parish, Louisiana

According to the 2000 Census, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana has a population of 147,250 people. Of those, 94,947 (64%) are White, 49,526 (34%) are Black, and 1,747 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 763 (or 1% of the 147,250 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 Ouachita Parish a population of 146,487 with a demographic that is 65% White, 33% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000
Incarcerated
population
Actual
population
Total 147,250 763 146,487
White 94,947 215 94,732
Black 49,526 548 48,978
Latino 1,747 5 1,742


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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