Special Disability Workload Payments Made to Incarcerated Beneficiaries
Title II of the Social Security Act (Act), as amended, requires that SSA provide DI benefits to individuals who meet specific disability requirements. Section 1611 (e)(2) of the Act requires that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients who have been identified as likely to be eligible for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits file for those benefits. Studies SSA conducted identified SSI recipients who had their entitlement based on applications before January 1, 2000, and appeared to be insured for, but were not receiving, Disability Insurance (DI) benefits. The Agency categorized these individuals as Special Disability Workload (SDW) cases. Subject to certain conditions, SSA suspends (a) OASDI payments to beneficiaries convicted and confined to correctional institutions for committing a criminal offense and (b) SSI payments to recipients who have been confined in a public institution throughout any month.
Our objective was to determine whether beneficiaries included in SSA’s SDW incorrectly received DI benefits for periods when they were convicted of a criminal offense and confined in correctional institutions.