3,900 Stimulus Checks went to Inmates

(AP)  The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 each this spring to people who were in no position to use the money to help stimulate the economy: prison inmates.

The checks were part of the massive economic recovery package approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in February. About 52 million Social Security recipients, railroad retirees and those receiving Supplemental Security Income were eligible for the one-time checks.

Prison inmates are generally ineligible for federal benefits. However, 2,200 of the inmates who received checks got to keep them because, under the law, they were eligible, said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration. They were eligible because they weren't incarcerated in any one of the three months before the recovery package was enacted.

"The law specified that any beneficiary eligible for a Social Security benefit during one of those months was eligible for the recovery payment," Lassiter said.

The other 1,700 checks? That was a mistake.

Checks were sent to those inmates because government records didn't accurately show they were in prison, Lassiter said. He said most of those checks were returned by the prisons.

"We are currently reviewing each of those cases to determine whether or not the recovery payment was due," Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said in a statement issued Wednesday evening. "Where we determine payment was not due, we will take aggressive action to recover each of these erroneous payments."

The Boston Herald first reported that the checks were sent to inmates.

The inspector general for the Social Security Administration is performing an audit to make sure no checks went to ineligible recipients, spokesman George E. Penn said.

The audit, which had already been planned, will examine whether checks incorrectly went to inmates, dead people, fugitive felons or people living outside the U.S., Penn said.

The $787 billion economic recovery package included $2 million for the inspector general to oversee the provisions handled by the Social Security Administration. The audit is part of those efforts, Penn said. There is no timetable for its conclusion.

The federal government processed $13 billion in stimulus payments. About $425,000 was incorrectly sent to inmates.

[melchg07]

Now if only we could get these people to find the more than $2 TRILLION that the military misplaced over the past number of years.

[specialty8]

Hey Obungler, I am still alive and not gotten S--- out of your handouts but more taxes for my smokes. I am not in jail, not dead yet, not a fugitive, pay taxes, what is your problem? Be sure to send Teddy his stimulis money you bungling community organizer.

[specialty8]

What a bunch of bungling idiots we have running the country. "Every dollar will be acounted for",Obungler said when he slamed it through with no thought or planning. When it gets tough, the idiots go on vacation instead of get going. Where is John Wayne?

[fstop100]

Shouldn't the article be titled "10 governemnt employees fired.

[specialty8]

Can't do that, Turbo Timmy and poor ole joe foot in the mouth Biden are way to valuable to get rid of! Pelosi, Reid and back door Barney are a real treasure also.

[toldyouso29]

The supreme efficiency and cost consciousness of the Federal Government soon to bring UHC and all that efficiency to a hospital, drug company and clinic near you. LOL

[pensacola8-2009]

Prisons in different states have different policies about receiving financial help from the government. Some are tough and deny the inmate all forms of benefit - usually in the backwards areas of the country - typically in the south, while others permit financial help to pay their personal debts while incarcerated.

Most states have laws that divert all money destined for inmates to their children or spouses for child support or spousal support.

The beliefs that inmates have no financial needs while under incarceration is completely false. Many do have continuing legitimate needs.

What may be a stimulus for a free person, may be a basic survival need for a jail inmate. During a bad economy, jail inmates and their families suffer losses beyond imagination.

Just because a person has poor education and bad luck, doesn't mean they have no use for benefit than those with better education and good luck receive. Liberals have long advocated for education to improve citizens self-discipline and keep them out of jail.

[Swine_Flu_Virus]

I never got mine, but I'm just a flu virus.

[fstop100]

I am a small business, I just spoke with my bank for an equipment loan to expand my business. The bank said no money to loan.
Maybe I should have said I was calling from prison.
I thought this is what stimulus money was for.
nobama and friends can't do this right and they want healthcare.
this administration is already a failure.
Next up 50% + income taxes to pay for all their mistakes.

[fstop100]

nobama should be embarrassed but instead he is on vacation.

[hockeymom441]

Our hard-earned taxpayer dollars at work. Thanks, Barak!
I knew this administration would give a lot of hands outs to those in our society who contribute little... but his is too much.

Mistakes like this should not be tolerated. That was my money... and if an investment firm mis-spent it "by error", they'd face criminal charges or have to pay me back... yet it seems like when the gov't makes mistakes, we're all supposed to just accept it.