There are several benefits for correctional and mental health institutions to report prisoner information to the Social Security Administration such as: Reporters may request to receive a verification file from SSA. Reporters can use the verification file to help identify and correct false inmate information in their own records. (An inmate may have given a false name, date of birth, etc., when he/she was arrested. This file may provide the reporter with the correct name, date of birth, etc., that SSA found for that inmate during their matching process.) This may assist the reporter in tracking other incidents of false identity associated with that individual. State Welfare Agencies must check for periods of incarceration for an individual when he/she applies for Food Stamps. Since State Welfare Agencies can request that information from Social Security, they do not have to contact other State agencies or local correctional and mental health institutions for that same information. While confined, inmates receive food, clothing and shelter at taxpayer expense. Not stopping social security payments made to inmates allows the inmates to receive a windfall of government benefits. Timely reporting stops incorrect payments. Reporting to the Social Security Administration helps to enforce the law.
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