Public comments requested on the reinstatement, with change, of BJS data collection: Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ)

BJS encourages comments for 60 days through April 24, 2023, on the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ). Your comments on BJS’s request to the Office of Management and Budget, which is published in the Federal Register, should respond to one or more of the following:

• Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of BJS, including whether the information will have practical utility
• Evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information
• Evaluate whether, and if so how, the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected can be enhanced
• Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Through the ASJ, BJS will collect data from approximately 940 jails on the number of persons confined in jails, the number of persons jails supervised in programs outside jail, characteristics of the jail population, counts of admissions and releases, and the number of staff employed.