Cons cash in on stimulus money
By Laura Crimaldi
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
bostonherald.com
Federal economic stimulus cash was handed out to cons behind bars in Bay State prisons after a bureaucratic snafu resulted in $250 checks being sent to some inmates - and now red-faced feds want it back.
“Taxpayers already believe the inmates are running the asylum in Washington,” U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said in a statement. “Now it appears they are being compensated for their efforts.”
Not only did the feds send the cash to incarcerated cons, but they failed to respond to state officials who sounded the alarm about the inmate windfall - now the subject of a national probe.
The state Department of Correction initially withheld stimulus checks mailed to 23 inmates because prison officials believed the convicts were not entitled to the cash, said DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.
The DOC said it released the funds after the federal government ignored several requests for guidance.
“In the absence of a formal directive, DOC determined that it did not have grounds to continue to withhold the checks from the recipients,” Wiffin said in an e-mail.
The Herald learned yesterday the U.S. Social Security Administration is asking at least 14 of the Bay State prisoners to return the cash. Inmates are generally not allowed to receive Social Security benefits while incarcerated.
It’s not clear if the cons have already spent the money in the commissary or elsewhere, however.
“This just goes against all common sense,” said U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House minority whip and a stimulus plan critic. “It shows you the lack of oversight and then what follows is this incredibly nonsensical outcome. Where is the accountability?”
Social Security spokesman Stephen Richardson said yesterday the federal government stopped Social Security payments to 14 inmates who got stimulus checks between 1980 and 1983 after it was determined they were in jail.
The suspension records, however, did not indicate that the individuals were prisoners, Richardson said.
That snafu allowed for the $250 stimulus checks to go out even though the inmates had not received Social Security in more than two decades, Richardson said.
“The money should be returned,” Richardson said. “The checks went out to individuals who shouldn’t have gotten checks.”
The nine remaining checks were mailed to a federal railroad retiree and several inmates in cases where the SSA has since found inaccurate Social Security numbers, Richardson said.
Four of the inmates received the checks legitimately because they were lawfully collecting Social Security some time between November 2008 and January 2009, Richardson said.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorizing the $13 billion spending plan mandated that anyone collecting Social Security, Veterans Affairs or Railroad Retirement Board benefits during those three months was due the $250 one-time payment. The federal government began mailing the checks in May.
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and state Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh yesterday touted the success of the nation’s $787 billion stimulus program during a conference call with reporters. Murray said the state could receive up to $9 billion to fund education, roads, broadband expansion and new jobs. Walsh criticized GOP leaders for their attacks on the program. |
