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Coverage of Prisons and Detention Facilities in the 2020 Census

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Working Paper Number: ADEP-WP-2024-08

Abstract

During every decennial census, the Census Bureau enumerates people living in prisons and detention facilities as part of its group quarters (GQ) operations. The Census Bureau uses the Master Address File (MAF) to define the universe of all living quarters including GQs. Among the challenges of enumerating GQs, maintaining the currency of the MAF remains a critical step for conducting both the decennial census and intercensal surveys. This project evaluated the benefits of leveraging censuses of facilities from the Department of Justice (DOJ) as alternative sources of information to help maintain the list of justice facilities in the MAF. The DOJ data were matched to the MAF using probabilistic linkage methods. This integrated dataset enabled the identification of potential gaps in coverage or classification errors in all contributing data frames. For example, more than 99.5 percent of the prisons and detention facilities in the DOJ frames matched to records in the MAF. Of these matched records, 86.8 percent were enumerated, 4.2 percent were listed as vacant, and 9.1 percent were not enumerated in the 2020 Census. The DOJ data included population counts that served as benchmarks for evaluating the decennial census counts of the corresponding populations. Of the matched facilities, 97.4 percent of the DOJ-measured population resided in facilities linked to GQs or housing units that were enumerated in the 2020 Census. These results suggested that enumeration occurred in the facilities that housed nearly all the DOJ-measured population. However, 9.1 percent of the matched records not enumerated represented a segment of this universe for which alternative data sources and further research could be leveraged to improve coverage. This study demonstrates achievable and accurate data reconciliation which has the potential to reduce costs and respondent burden in future surveys. These results bolster the case for continued development of an integrated database as a long-term solution to facilitate the linkage and validation of further alternative data sources and to increase maintenance frequency.

Page Last Revised - November 22, 2024
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