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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Nash County, North Carolina

According to the 2000 Census, Nash County, North Carolina has a population of 87,420 people. Of those, 54,152 (62%) are White, 29,664 (34%) are Black, and 2,939 (3%) are Latino[1]. However, 754 (or 1% of the 87,420 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 Nash County a population of 86,666 with a demographic that is 62% White, 34% Black, and 3% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000
Incarcerated
population
Actual
population
Total 87,420 754 86,666
White 54,152 217 53,935
Black 29,664 520 29,144
Latino 2,939 8 2,931


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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