The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking clearance to conduct the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI). The 2016 SPI will be a national, omnibus survey of prisoners age 18 or older within the United States who are incarcerated in confinement or community-based correctional facilities operated by or for state or federal governments. BJS has been conducting SPI periodically since the 1970s among state prisoners and the early 1990s among federal prisoners. A main purpose of this omnibus survey is to generate reliable national estimates of the characteristics of prisoners over a variety of domains, including characteristics that are germane to the corrections field, such as the severity of offenses committed and criminal history; medical, mental health, and substance abuse and dependency problems; behaviors in prison including both rule infractions and participation in programs. Other important objectives of SPI are to track changes in these characteristics over time, describe special populations of prisoners, and identify policy-relevant changes in the prison population. The 2016 survey will also be used to produce subnational estimates of prisoners within jurisdictions that have the largest prison populations (i.e., 100,000 or more) in the nation. The 2016 data will be collected through personal interviews with a representative sample of about 23,200 prisoners using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).
The purpose of this nonsubstantive change is to inform OMB of the results of a test of the functionality of the CAPI survey instrument that has been designed for the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI). OMB clearance for the test and national 2016 SPI collection, ICR reference #201505-1121-001, was approved on August 18, 2015. Based on findings from the CAPI feasibility test, conducted on August 31 â September 2, 2015, changes have been made to the CAPI instrument. Many of the changes are associated with programming modifications; other changes were identified through the experience of administering the questionnaire to inmates that were sampled to participate in the test. In addition to changes to the instrument, the test offered an opportunity to examine inmatesâ reactions to the informed consent process. The test did not suggest any need to alter the consent process; observations from the CAPI feasibility test are described in this memorandum. Accounting for the changes to the instrumentation and the opportunity to administer the consent and survey. Minor changes in the burden are requested to correctly reflect the number of respondents and total burden hours that was originally proposed in the supporting statement.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form NPS-25 Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016
Attachment E_2016 SPI Consent_ Track Changes_Clean.pdf
Non-substantive Changes to 2016 SPI_final memo.docx
Attachment A_passback revised_8-14-2015.doc
Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016