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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Rowan County, North Carolina

According to the 2000 Census, Rowan County, North Carolina has a population of 130,340 people. Of those, 104,294 (80%) are White, 20,562 (16%) are Black, and 5,369 (4%) are Latino[1]. However, 1,123 (or 1% of the 130,340 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 Rowan County a population of 129,217 with a demographic that is 80% White, 15% Black, and 4% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000
Incarcerated
population
Actual
population
Total 130,340 1,123 129,217
White 104,294 505 103,789
Black 20,562 575 19,987
Latino 5,369 35 5,334


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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