BJS FY 09 Survey of Inmates of State and Federal Correctional Facilities and Survey of Inmates in Local Jails

The purpose of this award is to provide funding for a collection agent to design and field test a survey for administration to inmates in a national sample of prison and jail facilities, hereafter known as the Survey of Inmates in Prisons and Local Jails (SIPLJ), and to prepare a national implementation plan to field the SIPLJ in 2012. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, has periodically collected information through personal interviews with inmates in jails and prisons since the 1970s (see Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities and Survey of Inmates in Local Jails at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/correct.htm#Programs). BJS seeks to create a single instrument that is adaptable to inmates housed in prison and jail settings and administered using an Audio Computer-Assisted Self Interview (ACASI) mode. It is anticipated that ACASI will enhance the precision of its estimates; increase sample size where feasible through group administration; minimize collection costs; and minimize the disruption to prison and jail facilities during the survey. The instrument will be modular based with separate substantive domains delivered to inmates in a manner to maximize the content covered by the surveys while minimizing the costs of administration. The recipient will also design and test an alternative mode of administration for use in facilities where ACASI is not feasible.