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1.5.2
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Use of Data
1.5.2
1.5.2
This past year, political interference in America’s knowledge infrastructure caused researchers across disciplines to lose faith in data collected and published by the federal government. The actions by the Trump administration to remove or alter public information induced shock and dismay among researchers. Academics, scientists, and volunteers rushed to compensate for a government that was no longer a neutral publisher. Researchers in the prison reform movement, on the other hand, were not surprised.
“The criminal legal system is an area that has been suffering from a lack of data for so long that…I don't think there's that same impetus to grab onto each other and close ranks,” explained Wanda Bertram, communication strategist at the Prison Policy Initiative. “The people who are working in prison studies have learned not to trust the narratives that are coming out of the government.”
In my conversation with her last month, Bertram told me that federal data relating to the United States’ massive carceral system has been lacking for decades. The last time the Bureau of Justice Statistics published its Survey of Inmates in Local Jails was 24 years ago. And plenty more datasets have been delayed, not nearly detailed enough, or called into question regarding their accuracy.
In order to provide a clear picture of jails and prisons, independent researchers have developed their own methods of data collection and analysis. This research has supported journalists and advocacy organizations, leading to change in an intentionally opaque institution.
I think this story is worth sharing, because some of their methods can be used to fill the newly emerging gaps in federal information. Here are some key organizations working to shed light on the carceral system.
Fills in for the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails by capturing data from local jail rosters
Scrapes daily rosters from public jail websites, resulting in a dataset that reveals population trends
Operates as an independent authority
“We’ve had county offices coming to us for data. Sometimes a jurisdiction can’t answer for itself how many people it has jailed,” said Orion Taylor, lead data scientist at JDI.
JDI data was used for investigations of COVID-19 outbreaks in jails in 2020, as well as to support research into other topics such as the impact of pretrial detention and bail practices on re-incarceration rates.
Surveys through their in-house magazine
Surveyed transgender inmates to make up for lacking sexual orientation and gender (SOGI) data
Analyzes federal data and collects research from other orgs, then aggregates for a more complete picture
A volunteer with the Data Rescue Project (DRP) scraped and uploaded the CDC’s AtlasPlus databases. The AtlasPlus tool, which is still up on the CDC’s website, allows researchers to create visualizers out of HIV, hepatitis, STD, and TB data, along with social determinants of health (SDOH) indicators. Although the tool is fairly accessible, the databases it draws from were not—until now. The script the volunteer used to download the data files is also available in the DataLumos upload.
Keep up with the DRP and the latest news affecting researchers on the Prairie Fire blog.
Orion Taylor at the Jail Data Initiative is working on scraping data from ICE detention centers. The problem: detainees are only listed by a nine digit “A-Number” code. Taylor is looking for a way around the code so the JDI can sort detainees into public-facing rosters. If you have information or suggestions to share, contact JDI at this address: questions@jaildatainitiative.org.
The carceral research field is just one slice of the independent research sphere that Prairie Fire serves. While the methods mentioned here may not directly translate to orphaned NOAA projects and the like, I think there's value in learning about resistance to authoritarianism, no matter what form.
You have peers in the knowledge sector that have been in this fight for a long time, and they've gained experience that you can learn from. Even if surveys or scraping are not in your ballpark, I'm hoping the work of these independent knowledge seekers inspires you to keep building your own methods of resistance. We'll be back to the hard sciences soon enough.
—Morgan
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