Monday, August 31, 2009
Stimulus Checks Sent to Prisoners
It’s tough to spend money, and thus help stimulate the economy, when stuck behind bars. So then why were 3,900 inmates nationwide sent stimulus checks like most other Americans? That’s the question many in Washington are asking since the news broke last week that $250 checks were mailed to thousands serving time, including for murder and rape.
The snafu was first discovered in Massachusetts, where corrections officials intercepted stimulus checks for 23 inmates. After repeatedly asking the federal government for an explanation and not getting any response, the Department of Correction released the money to the convicts.
Now, the inspector general for the Social Security Administration is investigating the mistake. There are concerns stimulus checks also may have been sent to fugitive felons, deported immigrants and the dead.
“Taxpayers already believe the inmates are running the asylum in Washington,” U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) said in a statement. “Now it appears they are being compensated for their efforts.”
Apparently, 2,200 of the inmates who received checks were, in fact, eligible because they were not incarcerated during the period of eligibility. The other 1,700 were not supposed to be among the 52 million Americans who were sent the checks.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Feds: Stimulus Money Sent to 4,000 Cons (by Laura Crimaldi, Boston Herald)
Cons Cash in on Stimulus Money (by Laura Crimaldi, Boston Herald)
Stimulus Checks Were Sent to Prisoners (by Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press)
Comments