[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 227 (Monday, November 28, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73036-73037]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-25801]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-0376]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; Revision of a Currently Approved Collection: 
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 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, 
Department of Justice (DOJ), 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 30 days until 
December 28, 2022.

ADDRESSES: 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.

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, Re-entry, Recidivism, and Special 
Projects Unit, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20531 (email: [email protected]; telephone: 202-307-
5955).

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,

[[Page 73037]]

e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

    1. Type of Information Collection: Revision of a Currently Approved 
Collection.
    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 (Pub. L. 108-79). The Bureau of 
Justice Statistics uses this information in published reports and for 
the U.S. Congress, Executive Office of 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.
    BJS submitted this collection for approval in summer 2022. Since 
then, changes have been made to several items in the collection. The 
main differences include editing of items in the ACASI survey and 
facility questionnaire, removal of items from the facility 
questionnaire, editing of sampling plan, and editing of consent forms 
and scripts.
    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 2023, BJS will coordinate the logistics of 
NIS-4 survey administration with staff at jail facilities. 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: 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, 
Department Clearance Officer, Policy and Planning Staff, Justice 
Management Division, United States Department of Justice, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE, 3E.206, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: November 21, 2022.
Robert Houser,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, Policy and Planning Staff, Office 
of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2022-25801 Filed 11-25-22; 8:45 am]
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