Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)

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Data Collection: Census of Jails

Status: Active
Frequency: 1970, 1972, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1999, 2002.
Latest data available: 2006

The 2005 Census of Jail Facilities is part of a series of data collections that study the nation's local jails. To reduce respondent burden and improve data quality and timeliness, the original jail census was split into two parts in 2005: the Census of Jail Inmates (2005) and the Census of Jail Facilities (2006). The Census of Jail Facilities collects information on each facility, including admissions and releases, court orders, programs that offer alternatives to incarceration, counts of inmates on hold for other jurisdictions, use of space and crowding, staffing, inmate work assignments, and education and counseling programs. The census provides the sampling frame for the nationwide Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ).

On This Page

Collection Period
Questionnaires
Documentation

Methodology

Changes Over Time

Publications & Products

Related Topics

Collection Period

2006

Questionnaires

	Census of Jails (CJ-3)
		2006 Census of Jail Facilities-Jurisdiction form (134K) \| 1999 For jail jurisdictions with one or more jail facilities that share the same staff and budget (120K)
	Facility Data (CJ-3A Addendum)
		2006 Census of Jail Facilities-Facility form (110K) \| 1999 For facility-level data on jail facilities listed in Section 1 of form CJ-3A (37K)
	In Indian Country (CJ-3D)
		1999 For jail facilities located in Indian Country (40K)
	Jurisdiction Data (CJ-3A)
		1999 For the central data reporter of jail jurisdictions with multiple jail facilities having separate staff and budgets (115K)
	Multi-Jurisdiction Facility (CJ-3B)
		1999 For jail facilities operated by two or more governments through cooperative agreements (121K)
	Private Facility (CJ-3C)
		1999 For jail facilities owned or operated by a private corporation (119K)

Documentation

Codebooks and Datasets

Methodology

The Census collected jurisdictional level information on inmates;facility characteristics;staff;programs; and costs of incarceration. Excluded were temporary holding faciliites,state-operated facilities in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The 2006 Census was limited by significant item nonresponse.

Changes Over Time

The questionnaire is modified with each iteration to capture information on evolving issues in criminal justice and topics of greatest interest to users.

Publications & Products

The following publications and products were generated by BJS using data from this collection.

Publications
Data Tables
Press Releases

Census of Jail Facilities, 2006 Presents findings from the ninth in a series of complete enumerations of local jails since 1970. The data include changes in the number of jurisdictions and facilities, functions, confined inmates, and inmate-to-staff ratios.
	PDF (823K) \| ASCII file (45K) \| Spreadsheets (Zip format 65K) Part of the Census of Jails Series
Census of Jails, 1999 Presents facility characteristics and characteristics of persons under the jurisdiction of local and Federal jail authorities on June 30, 1999.
	PDF (381K) \| ASCII file (58K) \| Spreadsheet (Zip format 131K) \| Codebooks and Datasets \| To order paper version Part of the Census of Jails Series
Jails and Jail Inmates, 1993-94 Presents data for each State and the District of Columbia including the number of jail inmates, the incarceration rates, rated capacity, percent of capacity occupied on June 30, the number of jail employees, demographic characteristics of the staff, inmate-to-staff ratios, and changes since 1983 in these measures.
	Press Release \| PDF (118K) \| ASCII file (41K) \| Codebooks and Datasets
Census of Local Jails, 1988, Volume IV: Data for Individual Jails in the South Information from questionnaires completed by all locally administered jails in 15 southern states and the District of Columbia were used to compile these statistical tables showing inmate populations, facility characteristics, and other information for fiscal year 1988.
	PDF
Census of Local Jails, 1988: Volume V. Data for Individual Jails in the West This report presents detailed statistics on individual jails in 12 western States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
	PDF Part of the Census of Jails Series
Census of Local Jails, 1988, Volume II: Data for Individual Jails in the Northeast Information from questionnaires completed by all the locally administered jails in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania were used to compile these statistical tables showing inmate populations, jail capacities, inmate deaths, correctional personnel, facility characteristics, correctional expenditures, and inmate programs during fiscal year 1988.
	PDF
Census of Local Jails, 1988, Volume III: Data for Individual Jails in the Midwest Information from questionnaires completed by all locally administered jails in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin were used to compile these statistical tables showing inmate populations, facility characteristics, and other information for fiscal year 1988.
	PDF
Census of Local Jails, 1988: Volume I, Selected Findings, Methodology and Summary Tables Information from the 1988 jail census covers census methodology, selected findings, and summary tables.
	PDF Part of the Census of Jails Series
Census of Local Jails, 1988 This bulletin presents major findings from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' 1988 nationwide census of local jails.
	PDF Part of the Census of Jails Series
Census of Local Jails, 1983 Vol. III. South Paper copy only.

Jail staff, by occupational category, midyear 1983,1988,1993, and 1999 Table 12 from Census of Jails 1999
	Download CSV file (Data Table 2 KB)
The number of inmates per jail employee, by occupational category and region, midyear 1983,1988,1993, and 1999 Table 14 from Census of Jails 1999
	Download CSV file (Data Table 2 KB)
Criminal Justice Resources - 90 Most Populous Counties Selected crime data, as well as data on criminal justice resources and demographic variables, for the 90 most populous counties.
	Download CSV file (Spreadsheet 34K)

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