Correctional facility capacity

Deaths in Custody Reporting Program BJS initiated the DCRP in response to the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) of 2000 (P.L. 106-297), which encouraged states to report certain information related to the deaths of individuals in the custody of law enforcement agencies. BJS developed three data collection efforts under the DCRP; these obtained data on deaths in state prisons, in local jails, and in the process of arrest to include deaths occurring in police lockups. BJS has collected data under the DCRP since 2000 and currently collects data directly from state prisons and local jails.

Begun in 1982, the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) is a sample-based, annual survey of local jail facilities that provides the source of nationally representative data on jail populations. Through the ASJ, BJS produces national estimates of the demographic characteristics of the local jail population as well as tracking changes in the jail population, jail capacity and crowding, the flow of inmates moving into and out of jails, and use of jail space by other correctional institutions.