Subscribe
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE

Around 4,000 lucky inmates got a special gift this month after receiving stimulus checks from the federal government. According to The Associated Press, the money was only estimated to be around $250 a person but the incarcerated inmates would have no way to “stimulate” the economy with it. The checks came from President Obama’s massive economic recovery package. The money was supposed to be for the 52 million people who receive Social Security checks along with railroad retirees and people receiving Supplemental Security Income.

Of course prison inmates are not usually eligible for federal benefits but 2,200 of the inmates will be allowed to keep their money. Spokesman Mark Lassiter for the Social Security Administration told The AP, “The law specified that any beneficiary eligible for a Social Security benefit during one of those months was eligible for the recovery payment.”According to Lassiter, the lucky 2,200 were not imprisoned during the three months prior to the recovery act being enacted.

Unfortunately for the rest of the inmates, their payment is being deemed a mistake and most of the wrongfully distributed checks have already been taken back. The Social Security Administration’s Inspector General is performing an audit to get back the rest of the checks. The Inspector General will also make sure checks weren’t sent out to fugitives, people living outside the U.S. or the deceased.