NCJ Number
79619
Date Published
1980
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Policy, constitutional, and administrative issues related to the question of whether or not prison inmates should be receiving social security benefits are considered, and possible administrative and legislative alternatives for dealing with problems in this area are presented.
Abstract
H.R. 3524, introduced on April 9, 1979, would have denied social security benefits to persons confined in penal institutions or correctional facilities. Six months later, H.R. 5610, a more limited bill than H.R. 3524, was introduced to deny disability insurance benefits to inmates. The primary issue raised by this legislation is whether the taking away of a benefit of a prisoner on the basis of his/her incarceration violates the 'earned-right' principle of social security. Probably the most pervasive constitutional argument relevant to almost any type of prisoner bill, including those which might be limited wholly to persons convicted in the future, would be that, absent a rational basis for distinguishing prisoner claimants from other claimants similarly situated for social security purposes, the denial of benefits would be viewed as strictly penal in nature and unrelated to the purposes of the social security program. A possible alternative to proposed legislation would be to extend the law provisions which allow a court to take away social security benefits as part of the sentence for conviction of certain crimes. Also, under the common law approach, a person may not become entitled to any survivor's benefits or payments on the earnings record of a worker if he/she was convicted of a felony for intentionally causing the worker's death. This doctrine could also support the denial of disability benefits for persons whose onset of disability occurred during the commission of a crime. Steps might also be taken to see that inmates receiving social security benefits would pay for their maintenance in prison. The relevant legislation and other materials bearing upon the issue of social security benefits for prisoners are appended.