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.

Can you help us continue the fight? Thank you.

—Peter Wagner, Executive DirectorDonate

Burnet County, Texas

According to the 2000 Census, Burnet County, Texas has a population of 34,147 people. Of those, 30,610 (90%) are White, 519 (2%) are Black, and 5,044 (15%) are Latino[1]. However, 522 (or 2% of the 34,147 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 Burnet County a population of 33,625 with a demographic that is 90% White, 1% Black, and 15% Latino.

Reported in
Census 2000		 Incarcerated
population		 Actual
population
Total 34,147 522 33,625
White 30,610 323 30,287
Black 519 153 366
Latino 5,044 124 4,920


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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