What should be done according to best practices for handling data?

The appropriate action according to best practices for handling data, particularly sensitive data such as that involving research with prisoners, is to destroy all identifiers connected to the data. This practice is essential for preserving participants' confidentiality and privacy. By removing identifiers, researchers can minimize the risk of disclosing personal information and ensure that individual identities remain protected, which is a fundamental ethical obligation in research involving human subjects.

Destroying identifiers also aligns with regulatory compliance, such as adhering to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Common Rule, which govern the data protection and privacy rights of individuals involved in research.

In contrast, sharing raw data publicly would breach confidentiality, storing data without security protocols could expose it to unauthorized access and potential misuse, and keeping identifiers indefinitely could lead to privacy violations if data were ever re-identified. Each of these alternatives fails to uphold the critical standards of ethical research practice.