[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 172 (Friday, September 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53572-53573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22016]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-0249]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; Proposed Collection: Revision of Currently 
Approved Collection Survey: Death in Custody Reporting Program--Prisons

AGENCY: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 60-day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs, 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, will be submitting the following 
information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until 
November 3, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments 
especially on the estimated public burden or associated response time, 
suggestions, or need a copy of the proposed information collection 
instrument with instructions or additional information, please contact 
Margaret Noonan, Statistician, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 
Seventh Street NW., Washington, DC 20531 (email: 
[email protected]; telephone: 202-353-2060).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of 
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of 
the following four points:

--Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau of Justice 
Statistics, 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, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
--Evaluate whether and if so how the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected can be enhanced; and
--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.

Overview of This Information Collection

    (1) Type of Information Collection: Extension of a Currently 
Approved Collection.
    (2) The Title of the Form/Collection: Deaths in Custody Reporting 
Program--State Prisons. The collection includes the Deaths in Custody 
Reporting Program (DCRP)--State Prisons.
    (3) The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection:
    This collection includes the following forms:
     NPS-4: Annual Summary of Inmate Deaths in State Prisons. 
This is sent to the 50 state departments of correction.
     NPS-4A: State Prison Inmate Death Report. This is sent to 
the 50 state departments of correction.
    The applicable component within the Department of Justice is the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics (Corrections Unit), in the Office of 
Justice Programs.
    (4) Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract: The affected public that will be asked to 
respond include 50 state department of corrections authorities.
    Originally authorized by the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) 
of 2000, the Death in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) is the only 
national database that can inform the issue of mortality in local jails 
and prisons in depth. BJS uses this data to track and report on total 
and cause-specific deaths and mortality rates in correctional 
facilities. The local jail portion of the collection is now part of the 
BJS Annual Jail Collection, and is not addressed in this notice. The 
arrest-related death collection, which was historically part of the 
DCRP, has been temporarily suspended and is also not part of this 
clearance.
    The DCRP-prisons collection has two components: A summary count of 
the number of deaths occurring in state departments of correction and 
individual-level death forms that collect information on inmates dying 
while in the custody of state prisons. Specifically, the following 
items are collected:
    (a) Number of persons who died while in the custody of state 
correctional facilities.
    (b) The first, last name and middle initial, date of death, date of 
birth, sex, and race/ethnic origin for each inmate who died during the 
reporting year.
    (c) The name and location of the correctional facility involved.
    (d) The admission date and current offense(s) for each inmate who 
died during the reporting year.
    (e) Whether the inmate ever stayed overnight in a mental health 
observation unit or outside mental health facility.
    (f) The location and cause of death of each inmate death that took 
place during the reporting year.
    (g) The time of day that the incident causing the inmate's death 
occurred and where the incident occurred (limited to accidents, 
suicides, and homicides only).

[[Page 53573]]

    (h) Whether the cause of death was a preexisting medical condition 
or a condition that developed after admission to the facility and 
whether the inmate received treatment for the medical condition after 
admission and if so, the kind of treatment received (deaths due to 
accidental injury, intoxication, suicide, or homicide do not apply).
    (i) Whether an autopsy/postmortem exam/review of medical records to 
determine the cause of death of the inmate was performed and the 
availability of those results.
    (j) The survey ends with a box in which respondents can enter 
notes.
    (k) Confirmation or correction of the agency and agency head's 
name, phone number, email address, and mailing address.
    (l) Confirmation or correction of the agency's primary point of 
contact for data collection, title, phone number, email address, and 
mailing address;
    (5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount 
of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: Prior to 2015, 
DCRP clearance included deaths in the process of arrest, local jails 
and state prisons. The arrest-related death collection has been 
temporarily suspended due to data quality and coverage issues. The 
arrest-related death collection will seek a separate OMB clearance when 
work on the project begins again. In an effort to reduce burden on 
respondents and minimize costs associated with the ASJ and the DCRP, 
the ASJ will be fielded along with the DCRP beginning in early 2016. 
The major change to the DCRP collection is the downgrade in burden 
hours to account for the ARD and DCRP-jail collections no longer being 
a part of the clearance package. Otherwise, there are no proposed 
substantive changes to the DCRP-prisons collection. DCRP-prisons (NPS-
4, NPS-4A)--There will be 50 respondents to DCRP-prisons for collection 
year 2015. It takes current DCRP respondents an average of 30 minutes 
to complete the death form and 5 minutes to complete the annual summary 
form, or 1,704 burden hours.
    (a) BJS collection agent also makes verification calls to prison 
respondents to ensure data quality. With 50 respondents and 9 minute 
per call, data verification induces a burden of 8 hours.

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                                                                                      Average
             Form                  Purpose of     Number of data     Number of    reporting time   Burden hours
                                     contact         suppliers       responses         (min)
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NPS-4.........................  DCRP Annual                   50              50               5               4
                                 Summary.
NPS-4A........................  DCRP death                    50           3,400              30           1,700
                                 records.
                                ASJ-DCRP                      50              50               9               8
                                 verification
                                 call.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total 2016................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           1,712
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    (6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: The estimated total burden hours associated with 
this collection for report year 2016 is 1,712.
    If additional information is required contact: Jerri Murray, 
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, 
Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE., 3E.405B, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: September 1, 2015.
Jerri Murray,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2015-22016 Filed 9-3-15; 8:45 am]
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