DLP Dispatch #16
Hello, and welcome to the 16th edition of the Data Liberation Project’s newsletter. Inside: Federal inmate complaints, commercial fishing incidents, more documentation of the USDA’s food purchase database, and our latest FOIA appeals.
New Dataset: Federal Inmate Complaints
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)’s Administrative Remedy Program “allow[s] an inmate to seek formal review of an issue relating to any aspect of his/her own confinement.”
In October 2022, the Data Liberation Project filed a request to BOP, seeking a copy of all database records stored in the “Administrative Remedy System module” of the agency's “primary mission support database.” Through a series of phone calls and emails, BOP indicated that the agency did not have the capacity to export the complete set of requested records, but was able to export a substantial subset of data-points for each case. On June 10, 2024, BOP provided those records to the Data Liberation Project.
We’re publishing those records today, alongside documentation we’ve developed to help you understand them.
The dataset provides information about 1.78 million complaint/appeal submissions filed by federal prison inmates between January 2000 and late May 2024, spanning nearly 1 million distinct cases.
The records indicate when each filing was received, the case number the filing pertains to, the general category of complaint, the facility where the issue occurred, case status, status update date, reasons for rejection/closure, and other details.
To the best of our knowledge, the Data Liberation Project’s publication of these records represents the first time that national, filing-level federal inmate complaint data have been made available to the general public.
To get started with the data, please consult our introductory documentation.
Many thanks to DLP volunteers Kevin Bryson, Marco Dalla Stella, Asako Mikami, pdtd, Molly Taylor, and Victoria Tran for their contributions to the documentation, and to Nausheen Husain for the conversation that inspired this request.
New Dataset: Commercial Fishing Incidents
The Commercial Fishing Incident Database (CFID) “is a surveillance system managed by [the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)] to collect information on fatalities and vessel disasters that occur in the US fishing industry.”
In January 2023, the Data Liberation Project filed a FOIA request for the database and its documentation.
The CDC, NIOSH’s parent agency, said it could not provide the database in its original structure; instead, it proposed to provide “a linked dataset (a single Excel sheet with all seven data tables already linked but without the linking identifier) that excludes PII and incorporates strategies for reducing disclosure risk”. The Data Liberation Project agreed to modify the scope of its request to allow for that.
On May 17, 2024, the CDC provided several data and documentation files in response to the request, including the “linked dataset,” a data dictionary, and an 80-page database manual.
The dataset contains 3,559 rows — each representing a person affected by an incident, as well as characteristics about the vessel and incident — and 157 columns. Unfortunately, some of the information is represented only very coarsely. For example, incident dates are not provided, only year ranges: 2000-2002, 2003-2007, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, or 2018-2022. Similarly, incident locations are provided only as Pacific/Atlantic and the number of miles from shore.
To get started with the data, visit its DLP landing page.
More Documentation of USDA’s Food Purchase Database
DLP Dispatch #15 featured an initial set of records documenting WBSCM, the database that the USDA uses to coordinate the purchase and distribution of federal food and commodity orders.
In late June, we received the second batch of documents, which we’ve now published and briefly summarized. They span an additional 757 pages and cover topics such as recalls, complaints, and discussion forums (as well as more mundane subjects).
Our Latest FOIA Appeals
When an agency denies a FOIA request (in whole or part), the requester has the opportunity to appeal that decision. At the Data Liberation Project we try to appeal as often as possible, and have had success doing so. (As journalist, FOIA maven, and former colleague Jason Leopold posted recently, “ALWAYS appeal your FOIA denials.”) Since the latest dispatch, we’ve filed the following appeals:
- We appealed USGS’s withholding of site identifiers (names, IDs, locations) from the water use data the agency provided.
- We appealed DEA’s overly broad application of FOIA exemptions in response to our request for documentation of its Theft Loss Reporting system.
- We appealed CBP’s misinterpretation of the scope of our request for documentation of its Automated Targeting System and its failure to provide the DLP an opportunity to discuss and/or narrow it.
That’s all for now! Thank you for reading, and don’t hesitate to reply. Alternatively, fill out the volunteer form and/or suggestion form.
— Jeremy