California Prisoners Got $3.5 Million from Social Security

Prisoners collected six-figure retirement payments while behind bars

Prisoners incarcerated in California took in $3.5 million in Social Security payments from taxpayers.

The inspector general for the agency reported 123 inmates received the disability and retirement payments despite the Social Security Act prohibiting payments to individuals "confined to a jail, prison, or certain other public institutions for committing a crime."

The report, released late last month, also found flaws in the Social Security Administration's database of prisoner information, as only 69 percent of prisoners' personal information matched SSA records.

"We identified 123 inmates who received approximately $3.5 million in improper payments while they were incarcerated in [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Facilities]," the inspector general said. "In 49 cases, the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) did not contain the inmates' most recent confinement information."

In 74 other cases, the database contained accurate information that the beneficiary was incarcerated, but nothing was done to shut down their benefit payments.

The audit was based on data from the California Department of Corrections of 188,000 prisoners obtained by the inspector general in October 2016.

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