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.

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—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Washtenaw County, Michigan

According to the 2000 Census, Washtenaw County, Michigan has a population of 322,895 people. Of those, 249,916 (77%) are White, 39,697 (12%) are Black, and 8,839 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 3,262 (or 1% of the 322,895 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 Washtenaw County a population of 319,633 with a demographic that is 78% White, 12% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 322,895 3,262 319,633
White 249,916 1,324 248,592
Black 39,697 1,735 37,962
Latino 8,839 287 8,552


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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