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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Sampson County, North Carolina

According to the 2000 Census, Sampson County, North Carolina has a population of 60,161 people. Of those, 35,955 (60%) are White, 18,018 (30%) are Black, and 6,477 (11%) are Latino[1]. However, 510 (or 1% of the 60,161 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 Sampson County a population of 59,651 with a demographic that is 60% White, 30% Black, and 11% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000
Incarcerated
population
Actual
population
Total 60,161 510 59,651
White 35,955 97 35,858
Black 18,018 358 17,660
Latino 6,477 37 6,440


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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