[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 138 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43298-43299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15440]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection of 
eComments Requested; Reinstatement, With Change, of a Previously 
Approved Collection for Which Approval Has Expired: National Inmate 
Survey in Jails (NIS-4J)

AGENCY: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 30-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. The proposed information collection was 
previously published in the Federal Register Volume 87, Number 74, page 
22942-22943, on April 18, 2022, allowing a 60-day comment period. 
Following publication of the 60-day notice, the Bureau of Justice 
Statistics received three requests for survey instruments and comments 
from four separate people or organizations. These comments will be 
addressed in the supporting statement.

DATES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Comments 
are encouraged and will be accepted for 30 days until August 19, 2022.

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 
Amy Lauger, Supervisory Statistician, Institutional Research and 
Special Projects Unit, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street 
NW, Washington, DC 20531 (email: [email protected]; telephone: 
202-307-0711).

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: Reinstatement, with change, of a 
previously approved collection. A new OMB number is needed, as this 
collection was previously under 1121-0311 with the collection of prison 
data. They are now two separate collections.
    2. The Title of the Form/Collection: National Inmate Survey in 
Jails (NIS-4J).
    3. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection: There is no agency form 
number at this time. The applicable component within the Department of 
Justice is the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the Office of Justice 
Programs.
    4. Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract: Respondents will primarily be State or Local 
Government entities. The work under this clearance will be used to 
produce estimates for the incidence and prevalence of sexual 
victimization within correctional facilities as required under the 
Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-79). The Bureau of 
Justice Statistics uses this information in published reports and for 
the U.S. Congress, Executive Office of

[[Page 43299]]

the President, practitioners, researchers, students, the media, and 
others interested in criminal justice statistics.
    In 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA or the Act) was 
signed into law. The Act requires BJS to ``carry out, for each calendar 
year, a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence 
and effects of prison rape.'' The Act further instructs BJS to collect 
survey data: ``. . . the Bureau shall . . . use surveys and other 
statistical studies of current and former inmates. . .''
    To implement the Act, BJS developed the National Prison Rape 
Statistics Program (NPRS), which includes four separate data collection 
efforts: the Survey on Sexual Violence (SSV), the National Inmate 
Survey (NIS), the National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), and the 
National Former Prisoner Survey (NFPS). The NIS collects information on 
sexual victimization self-reported by inmates held in adult 
correctional facilities, both prisons and jails. The NIS has been 
conducted three times, in 2007 (NIS-1), in 2008-09 (NIS-2), and in 
2011-12 (NIS-3). Each iteration of NIS was conducted in at least one 
facility in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In each 
iteration of the survey, inmates completed the survey using an audio 
computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI), whereby they heard questions 
and instructions via headphones and responded to the survey items via a 
touchscreen interface.
    The collection requested in this notice is the fourth iteration of 
the National Inmate Survey in Jails. For NIS-4, administration of the 
survey in prisons will take place separately from survey administration 
in jails. This collection request is specific to conducting the survey 
in adult jail facilities.
    The survey instrument for the NIS-4 in Jails is slightly modified 
from the previous iterations. The main difference is the addition of a 
new set of incident-specific questions administered to respondents who 
affirmatively indicate they were sexually victimized at some point in 
the previous 12 months while housed in their current jail facility. 
These incident-specific questions will provide information to the 
public on the nature of sexual victimization in jails, such as where 
incidents occurred within the facility, the relationship between the 
victim and the alleged perpetrator(s), and whether the victim suffered 
any injuries as a result of the incident, among other incident 
characteristics.
    5. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of 
time estimated for an average respondent to respond: Prior to data 
collection commencing in 2021, BJS will coordinate the logistics of 
NIS-4 survey administration with staff at jail facilities. Because the 
administration of this survey in prisons is not included in this 
request, the overall number of burden hours is lower than in the last 
request approved in 2010. However, the reported burden also different 
due to changes in reporting. It is estimated that 290 facility 
respondents will devote 150 minutes of time to this coordination 
effort, not including staff escort time. During data collection in 
2023, jail staff will escort an estimated 65,360 jail inmates to/from 
the interviews, which consists of a short consent administration and an 
approximately 35-minute survey.
    6. An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: This collection was previously approved for 
implementation in both adult prisons and jails. The current request 
will only be implemented in adult jails, thereby reducing the total 
number of facility staff and respondents required to participate. The 
total estimated NIS-4 Jails public burden, inclusive of facility staff 
and respondent burden estimates, is 64,010 hours. This comprises 17,065 
hours of facility staff burden and 46,945 hours of respondent 
interviewing burden. This burden estimate assumes 100% participation 
from both facilities and inmates, but historically both facility and 
inmate participation have not reached 100%. For purposes of comparison, 
during Year 3 of the NIS, the total maximum burden was estimated at 
68,078 hours for the jail sample. The total burden used was 33,022 
hours.
    If additional information is required contact: Robert Houser, 
Assistant Director, United States Department of Justice, Justice 
Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two Constitution 
Square, 145 N Street NE, 3E.405A, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: July 14, 2022.
Robert Houser,
Assistant Director, Policy and Planning Staff, U.S. Department of 
Justice.
[FR Doc. 2022-15440 Filed 7-19-22; 8:45 am]
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