Inmate Count

The law says you count where you live day to day at the time of the count as your residence, so unless something changes quick, prisoners will again be counted in this year's census as residents of the places where they're locked up, not their hometowns.

That means more political power and funding for mostly rural and white prison host communities, and less for mostly urban and minority neighborhoods that bred the criminals.

Audio: NPR's All Things Considered 2/16/10, Reporter: David Sommerstein.