Attachment B: Interview guide
Local Jail Reporting Program Feasibility Study: Jail Interview Guide
Jail: __________________________________
Sheriff / Department Head: ________________
Interviewer: ____________________________
Interviewee: ____________________________
Date: _________________________________
Introduction and purpose of the call
Hello, this is [INTERVIEWER NAME], calling from Abt Associates on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Thank you for agreeing to participate in BJS’s Local Jail Reporting Program Feasibility Study. During the feasibility study, we will be speaking to about 25 selected jails to learn about jail management systems, data sharing practices, and potential challenges if BJS were to request individual-level inmate case management records for research purposes. We are collecting this information for internal BJS planning purposes to determine whether BJS should try to gather individual-level jail inmate data from a very limited number of local jails in the future. Eventually, if that pilot project is successful, BJS will consider expanding the Local Jail Reporting Program to collect data from more jails. Individual jail responses collected for this feasibility study will not be published or released outside of BJS. BJS and Abt are bound by federal law (34 USC 10231) to use data for research and statistical purposes only, maintain and protect the data securely, and ensure data confidentiality.
The interview should take approximately 60 minutes. Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any and all questions, or stop your participation, at any time. However, we ask for your assistance with this study because your response is valuable for BJS to understand how jails keep records on inmates, what information about inmates is recorded, and the capability of jails to share these data with us, so that BJS can make an informed decision on whether and how to proceed with a pilot study of collecting individual-level jail administrative records.
Jail management system characteristics
Vendor and product name:
Number of years the jail has used the current record management system:
Planning to switch jail management system in the next year or two? If Yes, which one?
Categories of inmates tracked in system:
Pretrial
Holds for other agencies
Sentenced
Other, specify
Does your system allow you to easily identify the following types of inmates?
Pretrial
Holds for other agencies
Sentenced
How is an offender’s status change from pretrial to sentenced recorded in the system? (e.g., overwritten record; new record created?)
What types of new bookings are captured in your jail management system?
7a. Are transfers from another facility within your jail jurisdiction recorded as new bookings?
7b. Are returns from court appearance recorded as new bookings?
8. What types of releases are captured in your jail management system?
8a. Are transfers to another facility within your jail jurisdiction recorded as releases?
8b. Can temporary releases (e.g., for a court appearance) be distinguished from non-temporary releases (e.g., posted bail, completed sentence)?
What timestamps are recorded?
Admission
Release
Arrest
Other events, specify
Can your system link booking
records for the same individuals by unique identifiers, such as
social security number, state ID (for the purpose of identifying
repeat offenders for example)?
Availability of individual data elements
Does your jail management system capture the following data elements on persons detained or serving time in your jail?
Category |
Data Element |
Availability |
Personal identifiers and characteristics |
Full Name |
Yes No |
Date of birth |
Yes No |
|
Sex |
Yes No |
|
Race and ethnicity |
Yes No |
|
Citizenship |
Yes No |
|
Years of schooling completed |
Yes No |
|
Occupation |
Yes No |
|
Fingerprint-backed State ID # |
Yes No |
|
FBI number |
Yes No |
|
Full Social Security Number (SSN) |
Yes No |
|
Last 6-digit SSN |
Yes No |
|
Defendant’s prior criminal history |
Yes No |
|
Status in jail (e.g., pretrial, sentenced, hold for another agency) |
Yes No |
|
Arrest and initial court appearance |
Date and timestamp of arrest |
Yes No |
Arrest charges (description, type, severity) |
Yes No |
|
Court docket number |
Yes No |
|
Date of arraignment |
Yes No |
|
Filed charges (description, type, severity) |
Yes No |
|
Pretrial detainees |
Date and timestamp of pretrial admission to the jail |
Yes No |
Whether the detainee was offered bail; type and amount |
Yes No |
|
Bail payment amount |
Yes No |
|
Whether the detainee was released on bail/bond after being confined |
Yes No |
|
Whether the detainee was released on pretrial supervision |
Yes No |
|
Whether and when detainee had pretrial supervision or bail revoked, and then re-entered the jail |
Yes No |
|
Adjudication charges (description, type, severity) |
Yes No |
|
Holds for other agencies |
Name of agency inmates are held for |
Yes No |
Start of hold period |
Yes No |
|
End of hold period |
Yes No |
|
Sentenced offenders |
Sentence length and type |
Yes No |
Charges (description, type, severity) |
Yes No |
|
Fines imposed as part of sentence |
|
|
Date of admission following sentencing |
Yes No |
|
Whether and when the detainee was temporarily released (e.g., work release, furloughs, court appearances, weekend reporting) |
Yes No |
|
Date and timestamp of release |
Yes No |
|
Type of release (conditional, unconditional, transfer, death) |
Yes No |
|
Date of re-admission (if applicable) following conditional release |
Yes No |
Jail’s capability and burden to share individual-level data with BJS
Do you have a Data Use Agreement (DUA) or a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) template for data sharing?
If BJS were to request your individual-level jail data for statistical and research purposes, could your jail legally provide to BJS--? [Interviewer: Refer to FAQ if respondent has questions about how BJS uses jail data for research purpose.]
Data that contain no personal identifiers (e.g., sex, race, age, admission and release type, set bail amount)
Data that contain personal identifiers (e.g., name, DOB)?
Data that contain unique personal identifiers (e.g., SSN, State ID#)
What administrative processes does your jail have in place for sharing individual-level data with other agencies?
What additional administrative processes are in place for sharing data with personal identifiers such as name and DOB with other agencies?
What about sharing data with unique personal identifiers such as SSN, FBI ID number and State ID number?
If BJS were to request to link your jails’ individual-level data to other administrative data, such as arrest, prosecution, or prison records, what additional administrative processes are in place?
17a. What additional permissions does BJS need to obtain?
Are there any major legal challenges to providing individual-level data to BJS? If yes, please explain.
Are there any major technical challenges to providing individual-level data to BJS? If yes, please explain.
Are there any major management challenges to providing individual-level data to BJS? If yes, please explain.
Any other challenges? If yes, please explain.
What types of assistance can BJS provide to you to decrease the challenges in providing data?
How long would it take you to create an individual-level data extract that contains your jail’s booking records for a period of one year? You may use 100 fields per record for estimating purpose. [Interviewer: If respondent has difficulty estimating burden for Q23 and Q24, ask—If your agency has actually provided such a data extract in the past two years, how long did that take? How many requests do you accept/process each year?]
How long would it take you to create a data extract that contains individual-level data on all confined inmates at a specific time and day? You may use 100 fields per record for estimating purpose.
Who is your contact person should BJS wish to discuss data sharing with your jail?
Thank you for your time and assistance.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Abt Memorandum Template |
| Author | Tom Rich |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-13 |