The Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country (SJIC) includes all known Indian country correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the U.S. Department of the Interior’s BIA. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) conducted the SJIC to describe all adult and juvenile jail facilities and detention centers in Indian country. For this collection, Indian country includes reservations, pueblos, rancherias, and other appropriate areas (18 U.S.C. § 1151).

Annually, BIA provides BJS a list of Indian country jail facilities, including detention centers, jails, and other correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or BIA. BJS uses this list to update its existing roster of jails in Indian country. BJS obtains data from administrators of Indian country jails by faxed questionnaires and through follow-up phone calls and facsimiles.

In 2004, BJS contacted administrators in 70 facilities to participate in the survey. BJS received responses from 61 facilities. Seven facilities did not respond, and 2 facilities were not operating. In 2007, BJS's roster consisted of 86 facilities. Seventy-nine of the facility administrators responded to the survey, 4 did not respond, and 3 facilities were not operating. In 2008, BJS's roster of Indian country jails consisted of 85 facilities. BJS received responses from 82 facility administrators. There were no nonrespondents, and 3 facilities were not operating. In 2008, BJS's roster consisted of 86 facilities. BJS received responses from 80 facility administrators, there were no nonrespondents, and 6 facilities were not operating. Prior to the 2010 data collection, 1 facility in the 2009 universe was determined to be closed, resulting in a revised (79 facilities) facility count in 2010.

For 2011, BJS's roster consisted of 88 facilities. Prior to the survey collection, six facilities were closed, not operating, or out of scope, resulting in a survey universe of 82 facilities. During the survey collection, BJS determined that three additional facilities were holding cells and were out of scope, and one facility was added to the list, resulting in a final universe of 80 Indian country jails. BJS received responses from all 80 facility administrators.

Over the 7-year period, 11 facilities permanently closed and 21 facilities were newly constructed. Two facilities in 2011 (one adult and one juvenile) were treated as one respondent in 2010. A number of facilities were also determined to be out of scope of the survey, including four that were included in the 2009 survey, one in the 2010 survey, and three in the 2011 survey. BJS estimated inmate population counts for seven facilities in 2004 and four facilities in 2007 that did not respond to the surveys. All known operating facilities responded to the 2008 through 2011 surveys.

*For methodologies prior to the 2004 SJIC, please refer to the Jails in Indian Country series.

Since beginning in 1998, the SJIC survey instrument has expanded to gather data on inmate admissions offenses, expanded population measurements (e.g., average daily population and offense categories), and inmate health services and facility programs.