BY FREDERIC J. FROMMER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Taking advantage of new bounties, the Ohio prison system collected $203,000 by helping the federal government find 604 inmates who were illegally receiving welfare and other benefits.
Ohio was ninth in the nation in the number of prisoners caught and 10th in the amount of money it received during the 15-month period ending July 1, according to a report released Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The committee said prison administrators receive $200 to $400 for every inmate they report who is receiving Supplemental Security Income or Social Security payments.
But in practice, states simply provide the Social Security Administration with the list of new inmates, which the administration runs through its database of beneficiaries. The program is part of the 1996 welfare reform law.
In Ohio, the money goes to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and then on to the state's general fund, said department spokesman Joe Andrews.
"We send the Social Security Administration a computer tape of everyone we incarcerate," Mr. Andrews said. "They work it out.
"We don't know who is on welfare and who isn't. They tell us how many hits they have."
Welfare bounty hunters
Mr. Andrews said Ohio's ranking should be no surprise, because the state has the fifth-largest prison population in the nation with almost 50,000 inmates.
California led the list with 2,908 inmates caught and $991,200 in bounties received. In total, benefits were cut off to 17,280 inmates and more than $6.2 million was paid.
Prisoners are barred from receiving Supplemental Security Income and Social Security payments. In the past, the government essentially relied on recipients to report themselves when they were convicted of a crime.
Now, a jail or prison gets $400 from the Social Security Administration if it reports a welfare recipient's arrival within one month and benefits are cut as a result. The reward is $200 if the report is made between one and three months of a prisoner's arrival.
"This system is really brand new," said Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fla. "It's only been up and running for 15 months, and many state and local prison officials are not yet aware of it. But let me tell you, it does work."
Mr. Shaw and Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., wrote the bounty provision.
The system is intended to prevent cases like that of William Bonin, California's "freeway killer" who collected disability checks for mental illness until his execution in 1996.
Only after the funeral director reported his death, as is routine, did the Social Security Administration realize it had paid benefits to Mr. Bonin during his 14 years on death row.
His mother later said she received $75,000 of her son's Social Security checks and used it to pay the mortgage on her home, not knowing he was not supposed to get the money.
The system specifically targets Supplemental Security Income benefits -- those paid to low-income elderly, blind or disabled. The Social Security Administration began a related effort in 1995 to crack down on other government benefits to inmates, such as those paid to retirees.
Combined, the two crackdowns will save $3.5 billion between 1995 and 2001, according to recent testimony by David Williams, the inspector general of the Social Security Administration.
