Describes Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) activities to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA). The report summarizes BJS's efforts in 2017 to develop, design, and implement a new statistical data collection program to gather information from tribal law enforcement agencies in the lower 48 states, in Alaska, and BIA agencies; design and implement two data collections on the activities of state and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors' offices serving tribal lands; complete the data collection for the first census of tribal courts in the United States; study the handling of American Indian and Alaska Native criminal cases in the federal criminal justice system; and enhance current funding programs to support tribal participation in state, regional, and national criminal justice databases. This report meets the TLOA requirement to report on BJS's activities for the preceding calendar year.
- At midyear 2015, an estimated 2,510 inmates were confined in 76 Indian country jails. This was a 5.5% increase from the 2,380 inmates confined at midyear 2014 in 79 facilities.
- Since 2010, about 3 in 10 inmates held in Indian country jails were confined for a violent offense, a decline from a peak of 4 in 10 in 2007.
- At midyear 2015, the jail facilities in Indian country were rated to hold an estimated 3,800 inmates, which was up slightly from 3,720 in 2014.
- Indian country jails employed an estimated 1,690 persons at midyear 2015. About 70% (or 1,200) of employees were jail operations staff, including correctional officers and others who spent more than half of their time supervising inmates.
- After peaking in 2002, attempted suicides in Indian country jails have declined significantly.