Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Disciplinary System

Report Number I-2004-008
September 2004

APPENDIX II: CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR EMPLOYEE SURVEY

As mentioned in the "Purpose, Scope, and Methodology" section, we surveyed a sample of 441 BOP employees out of a population of approximately 33,600. Sixty-two percent (275 of 441) responded. In our findings sections, we cite the percentage of employees having certain opinions. The precision of our estimates about these opinions, based on a 95 percent confidence level, is shown below. The calculations were computed using standard statistical formulas for a simple random sample.

Table 13: Investigations of Employee Misconduct
Page Where
Statement Is Located		 Survey Statement Percentage 95% Confidence Interval
14 Employees have read the Standards of Employee Conduct. 91.64 ±3.26
14 Employees are aware of the BOP's requirements for reporting employee misconduct. 96.36 ±2.20
14 Employees who witnessed employee misconduct did not always report it to proper authorities. 41.18 ±11.69
14 Employees do not believe their fellow employees always report misconduct. 66.05 ±5.62
16 Investigations are thorough. 73.53 ±7.40
16 Investigations are not thorough. 26.47 ±3.26
Source: OIG analysis of BOP data

Table 14: Reasonableness of Disciplinary System
Page Where
Statement Is Located		 Survey Statement Percentage 95% Confidence Interval
27 Discipline is not appropriate. 26.15 ±7.54
27 Discipline is too lenient. 16.92 ±6.43
Source: OIG analysis of BOP data

Table 15: Consistency of Disciplinary System
Page Where
Statement Is Located		 Survey Statement Percentage 95% Confidence Interval
31 Employees are treated differently according to their job title. 59.63 ±7.56
31 Employees are treated differently according to their grade level. 59.62 ±7.68
31 Employees are treated differently according to their gender. 43.05 ±7.88
31 Employees are treated differently according to their race. 43.42 ±7.86
Source: OIG analysis of BOP data

Table 16: Timeliness of Disciplinary System
Page Where
Statement Is Located		 Survey Statement Percentage 95% Confidence Interval
39 Misconduct investigations are not handled in a timely manner. 42.57 ±7.95
40 Adjudication of discipline is not timely. 33.59 ±8.07
Source: OIG analysis of BOP data