DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03205
title: Classifying Inmates for Strategic Programming in the New York Department of Corrections, 1997-1998
title: Archival Version

description: The main goal of this study was to construct and test a
 statistically based system of classifying inmates for one or more
 types of Substance Abuse Intervention Division (SAID) sponsored
 treatment programs within the New York Department of Corrections (DOC)
 system. The sample used for the prediction models was a sample of
 recent jail inmates identified as eligible for admission to SAID. DOC
 provided data from its Inmate Information System (IIS) database on
 each of the cases. Researchers collected two sets of data: one that
 employed only DOC data (Part 1) and another that included
 supplementary data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services
 (DCJS) and the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) (Part 2).
 The DOC data (Part 1) fall into four main categories: demographic
 characteristics, information on the current case, prior criminal
 record information, and SAID eligibility information. Part 2, DOC and
 Supplementary Data, includes all the DOC items from Part 1 along with
other data collected from DCJS and the New York City CJA.
description: The main goal of this study was to construct and
 test a statistically based system of classifying inmates for one or
 more types of Substance Abuse Intervention Division (SAID) sponsored
 treatment programs within the New York Department of Corrections (DOC)
 system. In the New York DOC, detainees generally were screened and
 identified for SAID treatment on the 10th or 11th day after admission
 to jail. DOC planned to create two sets of treatment services (each
 requiring about 45 days to administer) for detainees that qualified
 for treatment: one for those who were likely to go to state prison and
 another for those who were likely to be released back into the
 community after serving a jail sentence or serving time for pre-trial
 detention. DOC's primary objective was to be able to identify two
 groups on the day of SAID screening: detainees who would be released
 to the community but would stay approximately 45 days or more in the
 system, and detainees who would go to state prison but remain at least
 45 days in the system. Building statistical models to identify these
two groups was the central objective of the study.
description: DOC provided data items from its IIS database on
 each of the cases. While original plans called for researchers to
 gather additional publicly available data on each case for purposes of
 analyses, DOC administrators indicated their interest in conducting
 one set of analyses that used DOC data only. They were concerned about
 the department's ability to quickly routinize the process of obtaining
 and integrating the added data so that it could be employed in
 classifying inmates for the new SAID program within 11 days of
 admission to custody. Researchers agreed to collect two sets of data:
 one that employed only DOC data and another that included the
 supplementary data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services
 (DCJS) and the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA). Matching
 and merging the DCJS and CJA data with the original DOC sample reduced
 the size of the sample. To obtain the DCJS data, researchers provided
 DCJS with state identification numbers and arrest dates for the
 original cases. DCJS returned perfect matches on a subset of these
 cases. Some of the initial matches were dropped from the sample
 because cases were sealed (because the charge was dismissed or was
 disposed as a juvenile case) and could not be released to the
 researchers under state statute. Since the information returned by
 DCJS included multiple events when they existed for a given arrest
 date, the dataset was reduced to information associated with the top
 charge for each arrest date. This ensured that the DCJS data would be
comparable to the DOC data, also based on the top charge.
description: The DOC data include gender, ethnicity, age,
 self-reported drug use, marital status, and citizenship. Information
 on the current case includes bail amount, type and severity of the
 charge, whether the charge was remanded, borough of arraignment, and
 whether there was a warrant existing at the time of arrest. Prior
 criminal record information includes prior convictions, history of
 violence, and disciplinary history. SAID eligibility information
 includes total length of stay in DOC, whether the inmate was
 prison-bound or not, and DOC classification score. Part 2, DOC and
 Supplementary Data, includes all the DOC items stated in Part 1 as
 well as other data collected from DCJS and CJA. Additional data items
 include flags indicating whether the charge was for an offense
 involving drugs, a firearm, another weapon, or a child victim, a DWI
 or DWAI arrest, whether the person was eligible for probation, prior
 arrests, prior jail, prison, and probation sentences, the length of
 time a defendant had been residing at current address, and DCJS's
release recommendation.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: The analytic sample used for the prediction models was a
 sample of recent jail inmates identified as eligible for admission to
 SAID. Selected from the DOC Inmate Information System (IIS) database,
 the initial sample included people who entered DOC custody as
 detainees (the sample did not include offenders entering with jail
 sentences) and who were released between July 1, 1997, and June 30,
 1998. This group was then screened for SAID eligibility. To be
 eligible for SAID, inmates could not have any convictions for any
 weapons-related infractions, convictions for any violence-related
 infractions within five years, arson-related convictions or charges,
 or convictions or current charges for sex-related offenses. Further
 screening criteria were specified through discussions with DOC to
 ensure that the dataset included only detainees who would be eligible
 for the new, planned SAID program. This meant ensuring that detainees
 in the sample had been in custody at least 11 days (and had not
 received a jail sentence by that time) and were not technical parole
 violators. Also excluded from the sample were small subgroups of
 inmates identified as cases who would be treated differently by the
 court (or appeared to have been based on their actual time in custody)
 when compared to the general population of SAID-eligible inmates.
 These cases included inmates who had absconded or escaped from DOC
 custody, or left custody as a result of death, suicide, a warrant
 being lifted, transfer to other jurisdictions of the criminal justice
system, or left custody for an unknown reason.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Department of Corrections (DOC) Data
DS2: DOC and Supplementary Data
description: Detainees of the New York Department of Corrections.
description: The user guide and codebook are provided by ICPSR as a
 Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed
 by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader
 software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to
 obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web
site.