Supplemental Security Income: SSA Efforts Fall Short in Correcting
Erroneous Payments to Prisoners (Letter Report, 08/30/96,
GAO/HEHS-96-152).
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether the Social
Security Administration (SSA) is making erroneous supplemental security
income (SSI) payments to prisoners in county and local jail systems.
GAO found that: (1) a total of $5 million has been erroneously paid to
prisoners in local and county jail systems; (2) these erroneous payments
are the result of SSA field offices' inability to obtain prisoner
information on a regular basis, SSI recipients' failure to report their
incarceration, and SSA inability to verify recipient's eligibility for
SSI; (3) the Commissioner of Social Security has sent draft legislation
to Congress that would authorize payment to each correctional facility
reporting newly admitted SSI beneficiaries; (4) erroneous payments to
individual prisoners range from $100 to more than $17,000; (5) 136
prisoners have received more than $5,000 in erroneous SSI payments and
19 prisoners have received more than $10,000 in erroneous SSI payments;
and (6) SSA is requesting its field offices to obtain prisoner
information from both county and local jail systems and emphasizing the
importance of monitoring field offices' compliance with this procedure.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: HEHS-96-152
TITLE: Supplemental Security Income: SSA Efforts Fall Short in
Correcting Erroneous Payments to Prisoners
DATE: 08/30/96
SUBJECT: Correctional facilities
Erroneous payments
Eligibility determinations
Entitlement programs
Prisoners
Income maintenance programs
Information gathering operations
Criminals
Social security benefits
IDENTIFIER: Supplemental Security Income Program
Social Security Program
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO report. Delineations within the text indicating chapter **
** titles, headings, and bullets are preserved. Major **
** divisions and subdivisions of the text, such as Chapters, **
** Sections, and Appendixes, are identified by double and **
** single lines. The numbers on the right end of these lines **
** indicate the position of each of the subsections in the **
** document outline. These numbers do NOT correspond with the **
** page numbers of the printed product. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
** A printed copy of this report may be obtained from the GAO **
** Document Distribution Center. For further details, please **
** send an e-mail message to: **
** **
** **
** **
** with the message 'info' in the body. **
******************************************************************
Cover
================================================================ COVER
Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight, and the Chairman,
Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, House
of Representatives
August 1996
SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME - SSA
EFFORTS FALL SHORT IN CORRECTING
ERRONEOUS PAYMENTS TO PRISONERS
GAO/HEHS-96-152
Payments to Prisoners
(106800)
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
EVS - Enumeration Verification System
SSA - Social Security Administration
SSI - Supplemental Security Income
SSN - Social Security number
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-262256
August 30, 1996
The Honorable Nancy L. Johnson
Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives
The Honorable E. Clay Shaw
Chairman, Subcommittee on Human Resources
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives
Recent media reports have focused attention on instances of prisoners
receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. SSI is a
means-tested program that provides cash payments to aged, blind, or
disabled individuals to help them meet basic needs--food, clothing,
and shelter. Prisoners are ineligible for SSI because prisons and
jails meet these basic needs.
The SSI program, which is administered by the Social Security
Administration (SSA), is federally funded, but some states provide
supplemental payments. In 1995, about 6.5 million SSI recipients
received nearly $25 billion in federal payments and $3 billion in
state supplemental payments. SSI is one of the fastest-growing
federal entitlement programs.
Because of your concern about prisoners receiving SSI payments, you
asked us to (1) determine if SSA has made erroneous SSI payments to
prisoners in selected large county and local jail systems,\1 (2) if
this has occurred, determine why, and (3) review SSA's efforts to
prevent such payments.
To meet these objectives, we interviewed SSA officials and
representatives from 23 county and local jail systems. We also
obtained computerized information on current prisoners from 12 of
these large jail systems. These prisoners represent about 20 percent
of the nationwide prisoner population at county and local jails. In
addition, we obtained information on prisoners recently released from
two jail systems (including 1 of the 12 systems). To determine
whether SSA made erroneous payments, we matched each prisoner's
Social Security number (SSN) with SSI payment records. We carried
out our work between September 1995 and June 1996 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. (See apps. I and
II for a more detailed discussion of our scope and methodology.)
--------------------
\1 A jail system may include more than one individual jail.
RESULTS IN BRIEF
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1
Despite SSA procedures to identify SSI recipients in county and local
jails, we determined that a total of $5 million had been erroneously
paid to prisoners in the jail systems we reviewed. This includes
$3.9 million to prisoners who were still incarcerated at the time of
our review (current prisoners) in 12 systems and $1.1 million to
prisoners who were paid while incarcerated, but had been released by
the time we did our review (former prisoners) in 2 systems. SSA has
been unaware of many of these erroneous payments and, therefore, had
made no attempt to recover them.
A variety of factors have contributed to these payments. First, SSA
field offices have not been obtaining information regularly on
prisoners from county and local jails. Second, the SSI recipient--or
the individual or organization designated to receive payments on the
recipient's behalf--has not been reporting the incarceration, as
required. Finally, SSA's efforts--to periodically verify, either by
mail or interview, a recipient's continued financial eligibility for
SSI--are sometimes ineffective.
In October 1995, as part of a new nationwide initiative to identify
prisoners receiving SSI, SSA began emphasizing the necessity of
implementing already-existing procedures. These procedures require
SSA field offices to obtain prisoner information from county and
local jails. SSA also began monitoring field office compliance with
these procedures. It is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of
this initiative as it relates to current prisoners. But we noted
that the initiative does not require field offices to obtain
information on former prisoners.
BACKGROUND
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2
The SSI program is authorized by title XVI of the Social Security
Act. To qualify for SSI, an individual must meet financial
eligibility and age or disability criteria. Generally, SSA
determines an applicant's age and financial eligibility; the state's
Disability Determination Service determines an applicant's initial
medical eligibility. The maximum monthly benefit in 1995 was $458
per month for an individual, increased to $470 in 1996.
An individual is ineligible for SSI in any given month if throughout
that month he or she is an inmate of a public institution (42 U.S.C.
1382 (e)(1)(A)). The title XVI regulation defines an inmate of a
public institution as a person who can receive substantially all of
his or her food and shelter while living in a public institution.
SSA operating instructions provide that a prison is a public
institution.
SSI recipients may receive their payments in one of several ways:
(1) SSI checks can be mailed to them at their residences or, in some
cases, to post office boxes; (2) SSI checks can be direct-deposited
into recipients' checking or savings accounts; or (3) SSI checks can
be sent to recipients' representative payees--individuals or
organizations that receive checks on behalf of SSI recipients who are
unable to manage their own affairs (including legally incompetent
people, alcoholics, drug addicts, and children).\2 A representative
payee is responsible for dispensing the SSI payment in a manner that
is in the best interest of the recipient.
--------------------
\2 After December 1996, eligibility for SSI will no longer be based
on drug addiction or alcoholism. A recipient with an alcohol or drug
addiction condition who is eligible, based on another condition, will
receive payment through a representative payee only if SSA determines
the recipient to be incapable of managing his or her own funds.
(P.L. 104-121 section 105.)
SSA PROCEDURES FOR VERIFYING
CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY FOR
SSI
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :2.1
Many events can affect a recipient's eligibility or payment amount.
SSA requires that recipients voluntarily report these events and also
monitors and periodically reviews recipients' financial eligibility.
SELF-REPORTING
-------------------------------------------------------- Letter :2.1.1
SSI recipients are responsible for reporting information that may
affect their eligibility or payment amounts. If the recipient has a
representative payee, the payee is responsible for reporting such
information to SSA. Significant events to be reported include a
change in income, resources, marital status, or living arrangements,
such as admission to or discharge from a public institution.
REDETERMINATION
-------------------------------------------------------- Letter :2.1.2
A redetermination is a review of financial eligibility factors to
ensure that recipients are still eligible for SSI and receiving the
correct payment.\3 A redetermination addresses financial eligibility
factors that can change frequently, such as income, resources, and
living arrangements. Redeterminations are either scheduled or
unscheduled. They are conducted--by mail, telephone, or face-to-face
interview--at least every 6 years, but may be conducted more
frequently if SSA determines that changes in eligibility or erroneous
payments are likely. The redetermination process includes a question
about whether the recipient spent a full calendar month in a
hospital, nursing home, other institution, or any place other than
the recipient's normal residence.
--------------------
\3 SSA relies on a separate process, Continuing Disability Reviews,
to monitor disabled SSI recipients' continuing medical eligibility.
SSA LIAISON WITH
INSTITUTIONS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :2.2
Since the SSI program was established, SSA has recognized the
potential for erroneous payments if SSI recipients become residents
of public institutions, including state and federal prisons and
county and local jails. SSA headquarters has established
computer-matching agreements with state prison systems and the
federal Bureau of Prisons. Under these agreements, the participating
states and the Bureau can regularly provide automated prisoner
information to SSA. SSA matches the information against its payment
records to identify SSI recipients incarcerated in state and federal
prisons.
According to information provided by SSA, the process of matching
prisoner information against the SSI payment records is a
cost-effective way to identify SSI recipients who are in prison.
However, to succeed, SSA determined it is essential that field
offices work closely with public institutions, both county and local,
to facilitate the flow of information concerning the SSI population.
Accordingly, SSA has, for years, instructed its field offices to (1)
maintain regular contact (for example, regular visits) with prisons
in their areas and (2) establish procedures for promptly obtaining
information on events, such as admissions and discharges, that affect
SSI eligibility and payment determinations.
RECENT LEGISLATION
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :2.3
On May 24, 1996, the Commissioner of Social Security sent draft
legislation to the Congress. This proposed legislation is designed
to promote timely carrying out of SSI provisions requiring cessation
of payments to prisoners. The legislation would authorize the
Commissioner to enter into agreements with willing state and local
"correctional facilities." Under these agreements, the Commissioner
would pay the facility for each report of a newly admitted inmate who
has been a Social Security or SSI beneficiary but is not, as a
prisoner, entitled to payments.
In August, the Congress passed The Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The act authorizes the
Commissioner of SSA to enter into agreements with interested
institutions. Under these agreements, the institutions would provide
SSA with the names, SSNs, and other information about their inmates.
SSA, subject to the terms of the agreements, would pay an institution
for each inmate who SSA subsequently determines is ineligible for
SSI. The act specifies, however, that the institution's primary
purpose must be to confine individuals for offenses punishable by
confinement for more than 1 year. This 1-year requirement would seem
to preclude SSA from entering into agreements with, as well as making
payments to, county and local jails, which generally incarcerate
prisoners for shorter periods.
INCIDENCE OF PRISONERS
RECEIVING SSI IS WIDESPREAD
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3
Overall, in the jail systems we reviewed, we detected a total of $5
million in erroneous SSI payments to prisoners. This includes $3.9
million to 2,343 current prisoners in 12 jail systems and $1.1
million to 615 former prisoners in 2 jail systems. Typically, an
erroneous payment continued for 6 months or less and totalled about
$1,700. SSA was unaware that many of these payments had occurred.
SSA ERRONEOUSLY PAID MANY
CURRENT PRISONERS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.1
SSA had made erroneous payments to 2,343 prisoners, who were
incarcerated in the 12 jail systems at the time of our work. These
2,343 prisoners represent about 4 percent of the prisoners with
verified SSNs in these jail systems. As shown in table 1, SSA made
payments to some prisoners in each of the 12 jail systems. The
percentage of prisoners who received SSI payments differed somewhat
among these jail systems, ranging from 2 to about 7.7 percent.
Table 1
Current SSI Recipients in Each County
and Local Jail System
Jail
system Total Number Percent SSA region\a
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ------ --------------
New York 9,374 357 3.81 II
City
Broward 2,510 49 1.95 IV
Co., Fla.
Dade Co., 8,529 185 2.17 IV
Fla.
Orange 3,211 66 2.06 IV
Co., Fla.
Shelby 3,401 193 5.67 IV
Co.,
Tenn.
Cook Co., 7,686 591 7.69 V
Ill.
Hamilton 1,751 59 3.37 V
Co., Ohio
Harris 3,358\b 59 1.76\c VI
Co., Tex.
Los 7,848\b 528 6.73\c IX
Angeles
Co.,
Calif.
Santa 1,586\b 99 6.24\c IX
Clara
Co.,
Calif.
Maricopa 2,352\b 105 4.46\c IX
Co.,
Ariz.
King Co., 1,814 52 2.87 X
Wash.
======================================================================
Total 53,420 2,343
----------------------------------------------------------------------
\a See app. II for states covered by each SSA region.
\b Prisoners incarcerated for at least 30 days.
\c The percentage was calculated using the number of prisoners
incarcerated for at least 30 days. If all prisoners, regardless of
length of incarceration, were used, this percentage would be lower.
However, this jail system only provided information on prisoners
incarcerated for 30 days or more.
In addition, there were 926 SSI recipients in jail at the time of our
review who had not yet been there for 1 full calendar month.
Collectively, these 926 prisoners were being paid about $387,000 a
month. To the extent these prisoners remain in jail for at least 1
calendar month and SSA remains unaware of their incarceration, SSI
payments made after a full month of incarceration would be erroneous.
SSA'S ERRONEOUS PAYMENTS TO
CURRENT PRISONERS IN THE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.2
In the 12 systems we reviewed, as of the date we reviewed each
system, we estimate that SSA paid $3,888,471 to the 2,343 current
prisoners (see table 2). The average amount paid to an individual
prisoner varies among the jail systems, but the overall average is
approximately $1,700. Some payments are much larger.
Table 2
Erroneous Payments: Total and Average
Amounts, by Jail System
SSI
recipi Averag
Jail system ents Total e
---------------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------
New York City 357 $649,1 $1,818
65
Broward Co., Fla. 49 59,047 1,205
Dade Co., Fla. 185 338,68 1,831
0
Orange Co., Fla. 66 89,998 1,364
Shelby Co., Tenn. 193 419,63 2,174
0
Cook Co., Ill. 591 972,62 1,646
3
Hamilton Co., Ohio 59 40,782 691
Harris Co., Tex. 59 66,696 1,130
Los Angeles Co., Calif. 528 929,70 1,761
3
Santa Clara Co., Calif. 99 162,30 1,639
6
Maricopa Co., Ariz. 105 104,19 992
2
King Co., Wash. 52 55,649 1,070
======================================================================
Total 2,343 $3,888 $1,660
,471
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Erroneous payments to individual prisoners ranged from less than $100
to over $17,000. We determined that 136 prisoners received in excess
of $5,000, including 19 who received more than $10,000. The
percentage of current prisoners by range is shown in figure 1.
Figure 1: Range of Erroneous
Payments for Current Prisoners
(See figure in printed
edition.)
Notes: (1) The number of prisoners is 2,343. (2) Percentages may
not add to 100 because of rounding.
Large erroneous payments to prisoners occurred because SSA paid some
of them for long periods of time. For example, one SSI recipient was
arrested on June 27, 1993, and was still in jail on November 30,
1995.\4 SSA paid this prisoner monthly for this entire period. The
erroneous monthly payments totaled about $13,000. As of November 30,
1995, this SSI recipient was still in jail and SSA was continuing to
pay him.
--------------------
\4 This date is the ending date that we used to calculate the total
erroneous payments to recipients. It is the date the jail system
provided us with data on its prisoners; it is not the prisoners'
release date. Some prisoners remained in jail after these dates.
SSA PAID MOST CURRENT
PRISONERS FOR 6 MONTHS OR
LESS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.3
We determined that 85 percent of the 2,343 current prisoners had
received erroneous payments for a period of 6 months or less, at the
time of our review.\5 However, some were paid for longer periods. We
found a total of 94 prisoners that had been paid for more than 1
year, including 13 who were paid for more than 2 years. The range of
months during which payments continued is shown in table 3.
Table 3
Range of Months During Which Erroneous
Payments Continued
Percen
Month(s) of erroneous payments Number t\a
------------------------------------------------------ ------ ------
1 742 31.7
2 461 19.7
3 323 13.8
4 207 8.8
5 161 6.9
6 93 4.0
7 to 12 262 11.2
13 to 24 81 3.5
25 to 36 10 .4
37 to 48 3 .1
======================================================================
Total 2,343
----------------------------------------------------------------------
\a Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.
--------------------
\5 According to county and local jail officials, jails house
prisoners for 1 to 3 months. These officials said, however, it is
not uncommon for longer-term prisoners to be housed in county jails
because of overcrowding in state prisons.
SSA IS UNAWARE THAT MANY SSI
RECIPIENTS ARE INCARCERATED
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.4
The erroneous payments to current prisoners are likely to increase.
Based on a review of SSA's records, we estimate that at the time of
our review, SSA was unaware that 1,570 of the 2,343 recipients were
in jail. SSA therefore continued to erroneously pay them. But SSA
had stopped paying the remaining 773 and, for some of them,
established an overpayment.
SSA ERRONEOUSLY PAID MANY
FORMER PRISONERS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.5
We obtained information, from two jail systems, for 15,998 former
prisoners who were released from jail between January 1 and June 30,
1995. We determined that of these former prisoners, 615 (3.8
percent) received SSI while incarcerated. In total, these former
prisoners received about $1.1 million in payments. The number of
former prisoners, total erroneous payments, and average amount to
individual prisoner by jail system are shown in table 4.
Table 4
SSI Payments to Former Prisoners, by
Jail System
SSI
recipi Averag
Jail system ents Total e
---------------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------
Cook Co., Ill. 419 $901,7 $2,152
92
Wayne Co., Mich. 196 225,07 1,148
6
======================================================================
Total 615 $1,126
,868
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Included in the count of 419 former prisoners in Cook County are 17
who were also in our population of current prisoners. This indicates
that these 17 were in prison and received SSI payments on at least
two occasions.
In Cook County, where we had data for both current and former
prisoners, erroneous payments to former prisoners were higher. In
that county, about 73 percent of the former prisoners were
erroneously paid $1,000 or more, compared with 48 percent of the
current prisoners. The difference is predictable because former
prisoners have completed their time in the county or local jail and
current prisoners have not. In Wayne County, where we only had data
on former prisoners, 38 percent of the former prisoners were
erroneously paid $1,000 or more.
SSA IS NOT RECOVERING
ERRONEOUS PAYMENTS FROM MANY
FORMER PRISONERS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.6
Based on a review of SSA's records, we estimate that SSA is unaware
that it erroneously paid 454 (74 percent) of the 615 former prisoners
(see table 5).
Table 5
Erroneous Payments to Former Prisoners,
by Jail System
Percen
Jail system Total Number t Amount
-------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------
Cook Co., Ill. 419 306 73 $690,0
70
Wayne Co., Mich. 196 148 76 164,91
5
======================================================================
Total 615 454 74 $854,9
85
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As of December 1995, SSA was making SSI payments to 340 of the 454
former prisoners. However, SSA was not recovering these payments by
withholding a portion of the current payments.
SEVERAL FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO
PRISONERS RECEIVING SSI
BENEFITS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4
Our review suggests that many of the erroneous payments to prisoners
stem from the fact that SSA field offices were not following existing
instructions. These indicate that field offices should contact
county and local jails to detect incarcerated SSI recipients. Other
reasons for such payments include SSI recipients (or their
representative payees) not reporting incarcerations and
redeterminations not identifying some incarcerated SSI recipients.
SSA FIELD OFFICES ARE NOT
OBTAINING PRISONER
INFORMATION FROM COUNTY AND
LOCAL JAILS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.1
At the start of our review, we contacted 23 county and local jail
systems to determine if they were regularly providing prisoner
information to SSA. Only 1 county was, although a few said SSA
contacted them occasionally to determine if specific people were
incarcerated. In addition, 1 other county indicated that it
initiated contact with SSA, but had not provided data. SSA had
contacted 6 additional systems about regularly obtaining information
on prisoners, but these had not yet provided any data. The remaining
15 systems reported that they had not been contacted by SSA about
regularly providing information on prisoners. For example, according
to an SSA branch office manager, no one from SSA had visited the
jails in the office's service area in more than 20 years.
SSI RECIPIENTS AND
REPRESENTATIVE PAYEES ARE
NOT REPORTING INCARCERATION
AS REQUIRED
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.2
Our review of SSA records indicates that although some SSI recipients
or their representative payees report incarceration to SSA as
required, many do not. We determined that of the 615 former
prisoners who were erroneously paid, 217 had representative payees
while in prison. We also determined that of these representative
payees, 164 did not report the SSI recipient's incarceration. About
87 percent of the representative payees who did not report were
relatives; 1 percent were social agencies or other types of public
and private organizations; and 12 percent were "other" types.
Similar reporting problems were noted for current prisoners.
REDETERMINATIONS HAVE NOT
IDENTIFIED SOME INCARCERATED
SSI RECIPIENTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.3
In the redetermination process, SSA attempts to verify that
recipients remain financially eligible for SSI and receive the
correct payment. SSA records indicate that while in jail, 88
prisoners each had one redetermination and 4 prisoners each had two
or more. We found that 32 of these 92 prisoners continued to be
incarcerated and receive SSI payments after the redeterminations.
According to SSA records, 22 of these redeterminations involved
face-to-face contact between an SSA employee and the recipient or the
representative payee. According to SSA officials, it is possible for
inmates who are temporarily free, on work release or some other
similar arrangement, to appear for a redetermination and subsequently
return to jail. In addition, representative payees may complete the
redeterminations, including face-to-face, on behalf of the SSI
recipient. The identity of the actual individual who appeared at the
face-to-face redetermination is not included in SSA's computerized
record, and a detailed review to determine who appeared at the
interview was beyond the scope of our work.
SSA HAS INITIATED A MAJOR
EFFORT TO DETECT INCARCERATED
SSI RECIPIENTS IN COUNTY AND
LOCAL JAILS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :5
SSA's operating instructions contain provisions for field offices to
contact local jails in order to obtain prisoner data from them.
However, SSA only recently began implementing this program
systematically. According to agency officials and internal
documents, most of the jails nationwide had been contacted by April
1996 to obtain information on current prisoners and future
admissions, but not on former prisoners.
CURRENT INITIATIVE BEGAN IN
LATE 1995
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.1
According to agency officials, in March 1995, SSA field offices were
instructed to contact local jails in their service areas and report
to their regional offices concerning which jails would agree to
provide SSA with prisoner data. However, the field offices did not
consistently comply with these instructions, these SSA officials
stated. In October 1995, after the start of our review, SSA
headquarters issued a follow-up memo to the regional offices,
directing them to instruct their field offices to (1) complete a
detailed census of all jails in their jurisdictions and (2) report to
headquarters by November 30, 1995. It was during this period of time
that the agency initiated a concerted effort to contact all county
and local jails nationwide.
According to agency officials, prisons and jails are being contacted
in the following order: (1) all state prisons, (2) the 25 largest
county and local jails nationwide, and (3) all other county and local
jails. According to SSA documents, as of March 1996, SSA had
identified 3,878 county and local jails: SSA had obtained written
agreements covering 2,647 of these and had agreements pending with
235. In addition, 843 jails were already reporting to SSA or held
prisoners for less than 30 days; 153 jails had not responded or had
refused to cooperate.
CURRENT INITIATIVE ADDRESSES
CURRENT PRISONERS AND NEW
ADMISSIONS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.2
SSA has requested that facilities it has contacted provide lists of
their inmates to the local field offices. The agency has offered
flexible reporting guidelines for frequency and format of the lists
(computerized or on paper). In general, SSA has requested that
facilities that have provided data to it previously or on a trial
basis continue providing data. In addition, SSA has requested that
facilities that have not provided any lists in the past provide (1) a
current census of their inmates and (2) continuing lists of new
admissions to the facility. Specifically, we found that SSA has
contacted the 25 largest jail systems in the country and requested
prisoner data from them. Most of these systems had agreed to supply
SSA with prisoner data beginning in early to mid-1996. One system
(Orange County, Calif.) began providing data in April 1995, and
another system (New York City) has agreed to a pilot project
including data beginning with January 1995.
CONCLUSIONS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :6
For many years, SSA has lacked an effective program to detect SSI
recipients in county and local jails. It has relied primarily on (1)
the recipients or their representative payees to voluntarily report
incarceration and (2) redeterminations. Neither of these mechanisms
has been completely effective; as a result, SSA has erroneously paid
millions of dollars to thousands of prisoners in county and local
jails. SSA was unaware of most of these payments. The number of SSI
recipients who received SSI while in jail, including those with
representative payees and those with redeterminations, raises
numerous questions, including whether payments were obtained
fraudulently.
SSA's recent initiative--to obtain better information on SSI
recipients currently in county and local jails--is a positive step.
However, the effort is not comprehensive enough. In general, SSA has
begun to obtain information on current prisoners and new admissions.
But SSA has not attempted to develop information, when available, on
SSI recipients who may have been incarcerated and received payments
in prior years. We found that this information is available and can
provide SSA the means to identify and initiate recovery of many more
erroneous payments.
RECOMMENDATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :7
In order to identify SSI recipients who have been erroneously paid in
prior years, we recommend that the Commissioner of SSA direct SSA
field offices to obtain information from county and local jails on
former prisoners. SSA should then process this information to (1)
determine if it made erroneous payments to any of these former
prisoners, (2) establish overpayments for the ones it paid, and (3)
attempt to recover all erroneous payments.
AGENCY COMMENTS AND OUR
RESPONSE
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :8
SSA commented on a draft of our report in a letter, dated July 16,
1996, and acknowledged that investigation of the productivity of
securing information on former prisoners appears desirable and worthy
of further examination. However, SSA expressed concerns about the
availability of data, the potential negative effect of requests for
more data on existing reporting arrangements with county and local
jail officials, the cost-effectiveness of processing data on former
prisoners who may no longer be receiving SSI payments, and other
matters. SSA believes these concerns need to be resolved before
implementing our recommendations. (The full text of SSA's comments
is included in app. III.)
AVAILABILITY OF DATA
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :8.1
During its recent initiative to identify current prisoners, SSA
identified local officials who know what data are available and can
be provided. It should not be difficult or time-consuming,
therefore, for SSA to contact these officials and determine if
information on former prisoners is available. In addition, to
identify information on former prisoners, SSA need not establish that
"the majority" of county and local jail systems have such
information, given that the largest jail systems account for the
majority of prisoners.
POTENTIAL NEGATIVE EFFECTS
OF REQUESTS FOR MORE DATA
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :8.2
During the course of its initiative, SSA expanded the number of
agreements with local correctional facilities to report prisoner
information. According to SSA, some of these facilities were
initially reluctant to enter into these agreements because SSA does
not have the authority to pay for this information. However, unlike
information on current prisoners, which requires monthly or quarterly
reporting, information on former prisoners only requires a onetime
effort by the local jail systems. Therefore, SSA need not assume
that requesting such data will jeopardize existing agreements. If
county and local jail systems are initially reluctant to provide data
on former prisoners, SSA could emphasize the potential benefit to
state programs (such as the recovery of erroneously paid state
supplements) that such data exchanges may provide.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF
PROCESSING DATA ON FORMER
PRISONERS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :8.3
We agree that SSA stands a better chance of recovering erroneous
payments if the former prisoner is still receiving SSI. However, the
fact that he or she is not currently receiving SSI should not prevent
the implementation of our recommendation. To ensure program
integrity, SSA has a responsibility to identify erroneous payments
and collect overpayments. Once established, overpayments made to
former prisoners remain in the record and could be recovered if the
person again begins to receive SSI. Furthermore, SSA has the
authority to recover SSI debts through a tax refund offset.
OTHER MATTERS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :8.4
SSA also took issue with the fact that we reported that until
recently, identifying prisoners was not a priority at SSA. According
to SSA, however, policies and operating procedures call for field
offices to (1) maintain contacts with local institutions and (2)
determine prisoner eligibility for payments. In our review, we found
that field offices had not been following this guidance. We made
minor changes to the text of the report to clarify this point.
SSA also expressed concern about a statement in the report that
erroneous payments to prisoners may be partially due to the
vulnerability of redeterminations to abuse. Although we do not
discuss the redetermination process in great detail, our review of
SSA records indicates that 32 of 92 prisoners in our sample continued
to receive benefits after a redetermination. If this process had
been working as intended, SSA would have determined that these
prisoners were no longer eligible to receive benefits. We made minor
changes to the text of the report to clarify this point.
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :8.5
We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional
Committees and Subcommittees; the Director, Office of Management and
Budget; and other interested parties.
This report was prepared under the direction of Christopher C.
Crissman, Assistant Director. Other GAO contacts and staff
acknowledgments are listed in appendix IV.
Jane L. Ross
Director, Income Security Issues
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
=========================================================== Appendix I
To determine if jail systems provide information on prisoners to SSA,
we contacted 23 large county and local jail systems that met the
following criteria: (1) a minimum average daily prisoner population
of at least 1,000, with emphasis on the largest U.S. metropolitan
areas, (2) geographic dispersion, and (3) populous SSA regions. Of
the 23 systems we contacted, we subsequently requested data from the
13 that met the following additional criteria: (1) an ability to
provide us with automated data tapes suitable for matching, (2)
willingness to provide the data at no cost, and (3) not currently
providing SSA with prisoner data.
Based on the above criteria, between September 1995 and January 1996,
we obtained automated data on current prisoners from 12 county and
local jail systems. They collectively represent about 20 percent of
the county and local prisoner population nationwide. The jail
systems that provided data to us are in 10 states, in 6 of SSA's 10
regions. The jail systems that provided current prisoner data to us
were: Broward County (Fla.); Cook County (Ill.); Dade County (Fla.);
Hamilton County (Ohio); Harris County (Tex.); King County (Wash.);
Los Angeles County (Calif.); Maricopa County (Ariz.); New York City;
Orange County (Fla.); Santa Clara County (Calif.); and Shelby County
(Tenn.).
In addition, during February and March 1996, we obtained data on
former prisoners from Cook County and from Wayne County (Mich.).
PRISONER INFORMATION OBTAINED
FROM JAIL SYSTEMS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:1
From 12 of the county and local jail systems, we obtained data for
prisoners who were under their jurisdiction on specific dates. The
dates were selected by the jail systems, based on their available
resources. Jail systems also supplied available personal
identifiers, including name, Social Security number (SSN), date of
birth, place of birth, mother's maiden name (or next of kin),
ethnicity or race, home address, and date of incarceration.
SSN VERIFICATION
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:2
We received information on a total of 97,813 current prisoners and
eliminated duplicate records. This reduced the initial universe to
79,595 prisoners. We processed the information on these prisoners
through SSA's Enumeration Verification System (EVS), which uses key
variables (name and date of birth) to verify the SSNs provided or
determine an SSN if none is provided. We obtained verified SSNs for
53,420 of the 79,595 prisoners. We could not verify SSNs for the
remaining 26,175 prisoners.
IDENTIFYING PRISONERS WITH SSI
RECORDS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:3
To determine which prisoners had SSI records, we matched the verified
SSNs against the Supplemental Security Record. We identified 12,951
prisoners with SSI records. We analyzed these 12,951 records to
determine if any of the prisoners received benefits while they were
incarcerated; we then extracted and analyzed the records of these
prisoners.
VERIFICATION OF COUNTY DATA
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:4
To test the accuracy of the current prisoner data provided by the
counties, we selected a random sample of 240 current prisoners we had
identified as having been paid SSI benefits while incarcerated (20
prisoners from each of 12 counties). We supplemented the random
sample with 100 judgmentally selected cases (considering large
payments to prisoners, long periods of incarceration, SSI eligibility
date versus incarceration date, and other such factors). We
requested that the jail systems verify (1) the booking date (the
first day the prisoner was incarcerated) and (2) whether the prisoner
was continuously incarcerated between the booking date and the date
on which the jail created the list of inmates in its system. We
requested that the jails verify the information from a source other
than that used to produce the original data.
The results of our random sample indicate that overall, our data were
reliable. For five counties, no errors were found for the sample
cases. For three counties, one case that could not be verified was
found for each. For three other counties, minor errors were found in
the data. For the final county, some of the information we had
originally been provided was incorrect. At that time, the county had
not yet entered the release dates for some prisoners into its
computer system. As a result, the original information showed 123
SSI recipients in jail on November 16, 1995 (the date on which the
county produced the original data), when they actually had been
released before that date. We eliminated these cases from our
review. Of the original 20 randomly selected cases in this county,
10 were unaffected, with the original information being correct.
INFORMATION ON FORMER PRISONERS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:5
To obtain information on former prisoners, we asked two county
systems (Wayne and Cook) to provide us with automated lists of all
the prisoners released from their systems in the first 6 months of
1995. We received information on 16,821 prisoners, with no duplicate
records. We processed these data through EVS, and obtained 15,998
verified SSNs. We matched the verified SSNs against the Supplemental
Security Record to detect former prisoners who received SSI, and
extracted and analyzed their records.
SSA REGIONS
========================================================== Appendix II
The 10 SSA regions are shown in figure II.1. As discussed in
appendix I, we obtained our data from county and local jail systems
in 10 states--New York, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Texas,
Arizona, California, Washington, and Michigan--in 6 regions--II, IV,
V, VI, IX, and X.
Figure II.1: SSA Regional
Boundaries
(See figure in printed
edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)Appendix III
COMMENTS FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
========================================================== Appendix II
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
GAO CONTACTS AND STAFF
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
========================================================== Appendix IV
GAO CONTACTS
Diana Eisenstat, Associate Director, (202) 512-7215
Harry Johnson, Evaluator-in-Charge, (202) 512-7248
STAFF ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In addition to those named above, the following also made important
contributions to this report: Jeremy Cox, Evaluator; Mary Ellen
Fleischman, Evaluator; James P. Wright, Assistant Director (Study
Design and Data Analysis); and Jay Smale, Social Science Analyst
(Study Design and Data Analysis).
*** End of document. ***