Communities with prisons often gain political clout.

In Gatesville, for example, inmates represent about half of the community’s population.

Inmates are counted as local residents when it comes to divvying up government grant money and laying out legislative districts.

Some big-city congressmen, whose districts typically lose in the deal, have told the Census Bureau to think about changing the arrangement.

Late last year Congress required the Census Bureau to study the issue and a report is due in late February.

The Associated Press reports such a switch would create a mass migration of more than a million people—at least on paper.

Some lawmakers want inmates counted as residents of their home towns and cities in the 2010 Census.

Many prison communities don't like the idea, arguing that they deserve benefits for housing criminals from other areas.

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State Prison Populations
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

Alabama 25,887
Alaska 4,554
Arizona 32,515
Arkansas 13,807
California 166,556
Colorado 20,293
Connecticut 19,497
Delaware 6,927
Florida 85,533
Georgia 51,104
Hawaii 5,960
Idaho 6,375
Illinois 44,054
Indiana 24,008
Iowa 8,525
Kansas 8,966
Kentucky 17,814
Louisiana 36,939
Maine 2,024
Maryland 23,285
Massachusetts 10,144
Michigan 48,883
Minnesota 8,758
Mississippi 20,983
Missouri 31,081
Montana 3,877
Nebraska 4,130
Nevada 11,365
New Hampshire 2,448
New Jersey 26,757
New Mexico 6,379
New York 63,751
North Carolina 35,434
North Dakota 1,327
Ohio 44,806
Oklahoma 23,319
Oregon 13,183
Pennsylvania 40,963
Rhode Island 3,430
South Carolina 23,428
South Dakota 3,095
Tennessee 25,884
Texas 168,105
Utah 5,989
Vermont 1,968
Virginia 35,564
Washington 16,614
West Virginia 5,067
Wisconsin 22,966
Wyoming 1,980
Nation 1,496,629