National Inmate Survey (NIS-4) 2019-20 - Jails

The National Prison Rape Statistics Program, developed upon passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, entails the collection of both administrative and self-report data on sexual violence from State and Federal prisons, locally-operated jails, and public and private facilities for juvenile offenders in the nation. One of the data collection efforts that supports the NPRS includes the National Inmate Survey (NIS-4) in Jails. In 2007, 2008-09 and again in 2011-12 BJS has collected data from inmates in jails using an audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI), wherein inmates heard questions and instructions via headphones and entered their responses using a touch screen. The NIS-3 was conducted in 233 state and federal prisons, 358 local jails, and 15 special confinement facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. military, and correctional authorities in Indian country. A total of 92,449 inmates age 18 or older participated in NIS-3, including 38,251 prison inmates, 52,926 jail inmates, 573 ICE detainees, 539 inmates in military facilities, and 160 inmates in Indian country facilities. The survey was also administered to 527 youth ages 16 to 17 held in state prisons and 1,211 youth ages 16 to 17 in local jails. The first report from NIS-3 was Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2011–12. The data collected in NIS-1, NIS-2 and NIS-3 were used to develop national- and facility-level (for large facilities) estimates of sexual assault. Data from the surveys were included in three previous reports from the Attorney General, which were submitted to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Review Panel on Prison Rape, as specified under the Act. The reports provided detailed results from the surveys, including facility rankings and summary findings. They identified facilities with the highest and lowest rates of sexual violence, which the Review Panel on Prison Rape used to solicit testimony from correctional administrators of these facilities. Under this award, Westat will carry out the fourth annual National Inmate Survey in Jails (NIS-4). NIS-4 will build on the past surveys by obtaining more details on specific incidents. During 2016, BJS undertook a comprehensive assessment to examine the substantive gaps in the NIS-3 sexual assault questionnaires, and BJS intends to obtain more details on specific incidents in the NIS-4. NIS-4 will include new measures with special emphasis on the nature and circumstances surrounding staff sexual misconduct and boundary violations, collusion among inmates and staff surrounding victimization, impact on victims, and other factors related to facility climate, institutional culture, and correctional leadership. In addition, BJS intends to improve the measurement of facility characteristics that may co-vary with sexual victimization. This assessment also included a review of the NIS-3 survey protocol, sampling methodologies, and analytical products to develop an optimal design to provide reliable facility-level estimates for jail facilities. The NIS-4 will incorporate the recommendations from this critical assessment for achieving greater efficiency and cost savings for this round of data collection and to ensure that the survey will maximize data quality and minimize the burden on sampled facilities.

(CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.

The National Inmate Survey of Jails is one of several surveys designed to meet the mandates of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (P.L. 108-79; PREA). As part of the PREA legislation, BJS is required to collect self-report data on sexual victimization from jail inmates. One objective of the survey is to rank order facilities with respect to victimization (Sec. 4c(2)(B)(ii)). A second objective is to provide data for the development of national standards for preventing sexual victimization in correctional facilities. Building on knowledge from prior efforts, NIS-4 will include an additional data point to measure change relative to NIS-3, more incident level detail and provide a deeper understanding of the effects of key correlates of risk. New questions are being added to the inmate survey on the details surrounding inmate-on-inmate and staff sexual victimization to further understand what underlies the occurrence of each type of incident. The NIS-4 will also expand and improve the measurement of facility-level characteristics. Results from these data will provide jail administrators with information on risk factors for sexual victimization and changes they may wish to make that will affect risk. The purpose of this proposal is to provide justification for additional NIS-4 funding to enable Westat to finalize and implement the sample design, modify the ACASI (audio computer-assisted self-interview) instrument, and engage additional field interviewers to complete data collection. The initial NIS 4 Jails solicitation provided assumptions that, upon further analyses, proved to underestimate the effort required to meet all of the analytic goals of the survey for three tasks as follows: (1) the sample design and subsequent selection of the sample is anticipated to require substantially higher involvement from the sampling statisticians than originally estimated; (2) the scope of work pertaining to the specification and development of the ACASI instrument is expected to be substantially larger than described in the solicitation; and (3) the administration of the ACASI inmate surveys is estimated to require additional direct data collections costs. This award will ensure adequate inmate-level response and more precise estimation to allow for the required ranking of facilities, by reducing the standard errors around each facility’s prevalence estimate. Our proposal describes how we intend to complete the expanded scope of work and carry forward procedures that were successful on prior surveys to address issues that have been identified in prior NIS surveys.

The National Inmate Survey of Jails is one of several surveys designed to meet the mandates of the
Prison Rape Elimination Act (P.L. 108-79; PREA). As part of the PREA legislation, BJS is required
to collect self-report data on sexual victimization from jail inmates. One objective of the survey is to
rank order facilities with respect to victimization (Sec. 4c(2)(B)(ii)). A second objective is to provide
data for the development of national standards for preventing sexual victimization in correctional
facilities.

Building on knowledge from prior efforts, NIS-4 will include an additional data point to measure
change relative to NIS-3, more incident level detail and provide a deeper understanding of the
effects of key correlates of risk. New questions are being added to the inmate survey on the details
surrounding inmate-on-inmate and staff sexual victimization to further understand what underlies
the occurrence of each type of incident. The NIS-4 will also expand and improve the measurement
of facility-level characteristics. Results from these data will provide jail administrators with
information on risk factors for sexual victimization and changes they may wish to make that will
affect risk.

The purpose of this proposal is to provide justification for additional NIS-4 funding to enable
Westat to (1) increase the sample of jail facilities to meet the PREA requirement of sampling ten
percent of all jails and (2) offset unbudgeted costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The
initial NIS-4 Jails solicitation anticipated that 235 jails would be sampled in which to conduct the
survey. Post-award, BJS determined that sample size did not meet the PREA requirement of
sampling ten percent of all jail facilities in the nation. This award will cover costs associated with an
increase of 55 jail facilities and cost adjustments due to COVID.

The National Inmate Survey of Jails is one of several surveys designed to meet the mandates of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (P.L. 108-79; PREA). As part of the PREA legislation, BJS is required to collect self-report data on sexual victimization from jail inmates. One objective of the survey is to rank order facilities with respect to victimization (Sec. 4c(2)(B)(ii)). A second objective is to provide data for the development of national standards for preventing sexual victimization in correctional facilities.

Building on knowledge from prior efforts, NIS-4 will include an additional data point to measure change relative to NIS-3, more incident level detail and provide a deeper understanding of the effects of key correlates of risk. New questions are being added to the inmate survey on the details surrounding inmate-on-inmate and staff sexual victimization to further understand what underlies the occurrence of each type of incident. The NIS-4 will also expand and improve the measurement of facility-level characteristics. Results from these data will provide jail administrators with information on risk factors for sexual victimization and changes they may wish to make that will affect risk.

The purpose of this proposal is to provide justification for additional NIS-4 funding to enable Westat to (1) offset unbudgeted costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation and (2) cover the remaining project activities including administering the survey to sampled inmates in publicly and privately operated jail facilities and conducting data collection, analyses, and reporting activities.