BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
Home | Corrections | State and federal prisoners and prison facilities | Special topics
Special topics
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The Corrections Unit collects data on special topics of interest for the prison inmate population through administrative records and inmate interviews (See Prison Data Sources for more information). Special topic publications focus on issues such as: female offenders, juvenile offenders, non-citizens in prison, mental health and treatment of prisoners, medical problems and treatment of prisoners, HIV/AIDS prevalence amongst the prison population, substance and treatment abuse available to prisoners, incarcerated veterans, incarcerated parents, deaths in prisons, Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), and capital punishment. 

Much of the data for these topics is collected periodically, and reports are updated as resources allow. BJS must strike a balance between researching new areas while sustaining the long-term collections and reports.

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Terms & Definitions

Federal prisons Prison facilities run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prisoners housed in these facilities are under the legal authority of the federal government. This definition excludes the private facilities that are under exclusive contract with BOP.
 
Prisoners Prisoners are inmates confined in long-term facilities run by the state or federal government or private agencies. They are typically felons who have received a sentence of incarceration of 1 year or more. (Sentence length may vary by state because a few states have one integrated prison system in which both prison and jail inmates are confined in the same types of facilities.)
 
Private prisons Prison facilities run by private prison corporations whose services and beds are contracted out by state governments or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
 
State prisons Prison facilities run by state correctional authorities. Prisoners housed in these facilities are under the legal authority of the state government and generally serving a term of more than 1 year.
 
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