United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-03-10 monographic deposited born digital 27 p. GA 1.13:RCED-97-54 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54 P0b002ee1803923b8 f:rc97054 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54 RCED-97-54 Food relief programs Program abuses Welfare benefits Prisoners Overpayments Families Computer matching Law enforcement information systems Eligibility determinations Locally administered programs Food Stamp Program FNS Income and Eligibility Verification System California New York Florida Texas Massachusetts Missouri SSA Enumeration Verification System Los Angeles County (CA) Dade County (FL) New York (NY) Harris County (TX) Letter Report RCED GAO provided information on Food Stamp Program overpayments, focusing on: (1) how many prisoners were included as members of households that received food stamp benefits, hereafter referred to as prisoner participation, and the estimated value of improper benefits that were issued to the households; (2) how prisoner participation could take place without detection; and (3) whether computer matching can be an effective method for identifying prisoner participation.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) despite federal regulations prohibiting inmates of correctional institutions from participating in the Food Stamp Program, GAO identified 12,138 inmates in the areas it examined who were included in households receiving food stamps; (2) these households improperly collected an estimated $3.5 million in food stamp benefits; (3) prisoner participation goes undetected because agencies generally do not verify the information on household membership provided by food stamp applicants; (4) furthermore, according to officials of the Department of Agriculture's Food Stamp Program, most state or local agencies responsible for administering the program do not routinely collect and review lists of individuals incarcerated in state and local facilities to determine whether any of these individuals are being counted as members of food stamp households; (5) given the program's reliance on client-provided information, computer matching of lists of prisoners and food stamp household members provides a straightforward and potentially effective mechanism to accurately and independently identify prisoners' participation; (6) while states have implemented various computer matching routines, such as the Income and Eligibility Verification System, which compares data on welfare clients with data on state and federal wages and benefits, many states have not yet implemented a computer matching program to identify prisoners participating in the Food Stamp Program. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54.pdf GAO/RCED-97-54 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-97-54 Letter Report GAO/RCED-97-54; Food Stamps: Substantial Overpayments Result From Prisoners Counted as Household Members; Food relief programs Program abuses Welfare benefits Prisoners Overpayments Families Computer matching Law enforcement information systems Eligibility determinations Locally administered programs Food Stamp Program FNS Income and Eligibility Verification System California New York Florida Texas Massachusetts Missouri SSA Enumeration Verification System Los Angeles County (CA) Dade County (FL) New York (NY) Harris County (TX)