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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West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

According to the 2000 Census, West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana has a population of 21,601 people. Of those, 13,561 (63%) are White, 7,666 (35%) are Black, and 313 (1%) are Latino[1]. However, 436 (or 2% of the 21,601 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 West Baton Rouge Parish a population of 21,165 with a demographic that is 63% White, 35% Black, and 1% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 21,601 436 21,165
White 13,561 133 13,428
Black 7,666 284 7,382
Latino 313 41 272


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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