Response:

We cannot change the address on the IP notice unless we receive the request directly from the correctional or mental health agency or authority that signed the Incentive Payment Memorandum of Understanding (IPMOU) reporting agreement between your agency or institution and SSA.

Action:

Do not change the address for the IP notice unless you receive a request from the CI or MHI agency or authority that signed the IPMOU reporting agreement with SSA. The CI or MHI agency or authority that signed the IPMOU is the entity listed on the Reporter Identification Data (IRID) screen on the Incarceration Report and Controls System (IRCS). If you receive a request for an address change from the CI or MHI agency or institution that signed the IPMOU, email the change of address to your Regional Prisoner Coordinator (RPC). For information on the name of your RPC, see GN 02607.990.

Response:

We cannot provide more PII about an incarcerated beneficiary or a recipient to you than we currently provide in your incentive payment notice.

Action:

None.

Response:

We do not provide the full social security number on the incentive payment notice. We only provide the last four digits of a social security number on your incentive payment notice because of our agency’s mandate to protect and safeguard PII. We can only supply this information to you during our discussion.

Action:

None.

Response:

Are you the official contact or representative of the correctional or mental health institution identified on the incentive payment notice? Can you provide us with the name and address of the institution printed on the IP notice?

Since you are the official contact for the institution based on your responses to my questions, I will print a copy of the notice and mail it to you.

NOTE: The IP notice contains PII information and you must determine the affiliation of the inquirer to the institution before mailing the IP to the institution’s official contact.

Action:

Print a copy of a CI’s or MHI’s IP notice from ORS and mail it to the inquirer. For information on viewing reporter notices on ORS, see GN 02607.830A.2. in this section.

My bank changed their routing number. How can I get SSA to update the new routing information to my IP bank account? or

I changed banks. What do I have to do to get SSA to update my new bank account for my IPs?

Response:

We will refer your request for banking changes to the RPC for action.

Action:

Email all CI or MHI requests for banking changes to your RPC. For information on contacting your RPC, see GN 02607.990.

Response:

You can contact our Payment Inquiries Services via email at Payment.Inquiries@ssa.gov, or by calling (410) 965-0607. Our customer service representatives are available Monday through Friday between 8:00am and 4:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

Action:

None.

The direct deposit payment made to our bank account this month is less than the amount stated in our IP notice that we received from SSA. Why didn’t we receive the entire IP deposit in our bank account?

Response:

SSA authorized the full amount of incentives that we provided in our IP notice to you. If your deposit was less than what we authorized, your payment was offset by the Department of Treasury for a debt your agency or institution owed another agency. You can call the Treasury Debt Offset Help Desk at 1-866-606-8220 for information about the reduced direct deposit amount.

Action:

None.

We want to receive our IP money as a paper check instead of a direct deposit to our bank account. Can SSA cut us a check versus sending the IP money to our bank account?

Response:

We pay all incentive payments via electronic funds transfers (EFT) (i.e., direct deposit) directly into your institution’s bank account.

Action:

Verify that IRCS has the correct direct deposit data on file for the CI or MHI. You can find the CI’s or MHI’s bank account information on the PUPS Facility Identification Query (QFID) screen. For information on IP disbursements, see GN 02607.800C.1., and for information on the QFID screen, see MS PRISON 002.013.

The IP payment you just sent us did not include payment for inmate XYZ that we reported on last month’s prisoner report. Why wasn’t the IP money for this inmate included in my recent bank deposit?

Response:

There is no connection between your monthly inmate report and payment of an incentive payment. Our incentive payment system generates an incentive payment only after we develop a beneficiary’s or recipient’s inmate report and suspend their monthly benefits or payments. We do this in accordance with the Incentive Payment Memorandum of Understanding your institution signed with our agency. Sometimes it takes us several months to legally suspend or stop a beneficiary’s or recipient’s monthly benefits as a “prisoner.”

Action:

None.

On our last IP notice, you stated that our jail confined inmate John Doe beginning with March 2018. Our jail never had custody of inmate John Doe. Based on John Doe's court record, the court ordered John Doe confined to ABC County Jail beginning March 2018. What should we do with the IP money you sent us for this inmate?

Response:

Return the incorrectly paid incentive payment back to SSA. We will mail you a letter describing how to return the incentive payment.

Action:

Prepare an SSA-L4020 , Prisoner Incentive Payment Recoupment Form and mail it to the institution. SSA-L4020 provides instructions for returning the IP. For instructions on completing SSA-L4020, see GN 02607.832C.1.

SSA shorted my jail $200 on last month’s IP deposit. We included all our September 2018 inmate admissions when we submitted our monthly report to SSA on October 5, 2018. SSA only paid us $200 instead of $400 for inmate John Doe, who we admitted on September 1, 2018. Why did we only receive $200?

Response:

We pay incentive payments to participating institutions if their timely inmate information leads to suspension of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments and Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance (Social Security) benefits. We pay:

For stopping SSI payments,

$400 for reported inmate information received within 15 days after an inmate’s date of confinement; or

$200 within 90 days after an inmate’s date of confinement.

For stopping Social Security benefits*,

$400 for reported inmate information received within 30 days after an inmate’s date of confinement; or

$200 within 90 days after an inmate’s date of confinement.

*Social benefits require conviction information and confinement information to suspend benefits.

We do not pay anything for inmate reports submitted 91 days or more after and inmate’s admission.

If we paid you $200 instead of $400, we did not receive your report within 15 or 30 days after an inmate’s admission or confinement date, depending upon the type of payment or benefit.

You should send us your inmate report every 15 days. Revising your reporting obligations will help you qualify for the maximum incentive payment of $400 per each beneficiary’s or recipient’s suspension.

Would you like to receive more information on our incentive payment program? We have a fact sheet that explains how our program works, it is called, “‘Incentive Payments to State and Local Institutions," If you have access to the internet, you can get a copy of the fact sheet on our website, www.socialsecurity.gov . Go to the search field and key in the term, “EN-05-10088,” or “Incentive Payments to State and Local Institutions.”

Action:

If the inquirer cannot locate the SSA public website, www.socialsecurity.gov , obtain the inquirer’s email address and send them the hyperlink, Incentive Payments to State and Local Institutions. This hyperlink directs the inquirer to the publication on SSA’s public website.

If the inquirer does not have access to the internet, copy the fact sheet and mail it to them.