SSA - POMS: GN 02607.800 - SSA's Title II and Title XVI Incentive Payment Programs

A. Incentive payment legislative provisions

We may make incentive payments to State and local correctional and mental health institutions that agree to report inmate confinement and identifying information to us.

Changes in incentive payment laws:

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Section 203 of Public Law (P.L.) 104-193 amended section 1611(e)(1) of the Social Security Act to provide for incentive payments from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program funds beginning 3/1/1997.
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Section 402 of Public Law (P.L.) 106-170 amended section 202(x) of the Social Security Act to provide for incentive payments from Title II program funds beginning 4/-1/2000.
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Section 53118 of Public Law (P.L) 115-123 amended section 1611(e ) (1)(I)(i)(II) of the Social Security Act to change the time by which a participating incentive payment reporter must send in their inmate data to receive the maximum Title XVI incentive payment.

B. Incentive payment policies

1. Qualifications for participation in the agency’s Title II and Title XVI incentive payment programs

State or local (county or city) facilities or institutions that enter into agreements with the agency to provide information about certain persons confined by court order in connection with a criminal offense, can participate in the incentive payment programs.

a. Types of State or local facilities or institutions

Participating state or local facilities may include jails, prisons, penal institutions, correctional facilities, detention centers, boot camps, medical correctional hospitals, work camps, juvenile detention centers, halfway houses, city facilities, civil commitment centers, state commitment centers, and mental health institutions or hospitals.

b. Privately owned facilities

State or local correctional institutions may contract with privately owned facilities to confine their inmates. Generally, State or local correctional institutions enter into contractual agreements with privately owned facilities to hold excess prisoners when their own facilities become overcrowded. A State or local correctional institution retains control and jurisdiction over the inmates it places in private facilities. The State or local institution must also report their inmates in a private facility to us as part of their monthly inmate report.

Contact your Regional Prisoner Coordinator (RPC) if you are aware of a privately owned facility that is reporting inmates to the agency independent of its State or local institution that is also reporting inmates to us. Also, notify the RPC if a privately owned facility receives incentive payments for providing us with inmate reports. For the list of the RPCs, see GN 02607.990.

c. Institutions that cannot receive incentive payments

Institutions that cannot participate in the incentive payment program include:

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Federal correctional or mental health institutions or agencies;
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Federal, State or local courts;
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private institutions filing for incentive payments on their own behalf (not as an agent or contractor of a State or local institution); and
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private contractors or companies that receive payment from State or local institutions for submitting their monthly inmate data to the agency for computer matching.

2. Qualifications to receive incentive payments

a. State and local institutions qualify for incentive payments

To qualify to receive a Title II or Title XVI incentive payment:

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an institution must have an Incentive Payment Memorandum of Understanding (IPMOU) reporting agreement with the agency,
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the participating institution’s inmate information must result in the suspension of a Title II beneficiary’s or Title XVI recipient’s monthly payments,
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the agency received the participating institution’s inmate report within 90 days after an inmate’s date of confinement, and
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the Title II beneficiary or Title XVI recipient must have received a benefit or payment in the month prior to his or her prisoner suspension month.

b. Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) of incentive payments

Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) automatically determines if a participating institution qualifies for an incentive payment and calculates the payment. For more information on how PUPS process incentive payments, see MSOM PRISON 003.001.

3. Incentive payment amount

We calculate an incentive payment by comparing the inmate’s confinement date to the date of the receipt of the inmate report and pay according to the amounts indicated below for each title:

a. Title II incentive payment amounts:

If a participating institution qualifies for a Title II incentive payment, we will pay the institution the following:

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$400 for inmate information received within 30 days after the beneficiary's date of confinement; or
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$200 for information received after 30 days, but within 90 days after the beneficiary's date of confinement.

NOTE: A Title II beneficiary’s suspension requires conviction for a crime or commitment by court order as well as subsequent confinement in a correctional institution or mental health institution. To pay an institution a Title II incentive, we must receive the beneficiary’s conviction/commitment and confinement information from an institution. For the rules for paying Title II incentive payments, see GN 02607.800B.2.a. in this section.

b. Title XVI incentive payment amounts

If a participating institution qualifies for an incentive payment, we will pay the institution the following:

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$400 for inmate information received within 15 days after the recipient’s date of confinement; or
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$200 for information received after 15 days, but within 90 days after the recipient’s date of confinement.

For information on paying incentive payments for beneficiaries who receive both Title II and Title XVI benefits (i.e., concurrent beneficiaries), see GN 02607.800B.4. in this section.

c. Inmate reports received after the 91st day of confinement

We do not pay for information received on or after the 91st day following the beneficiary’s conviction date or recipient's date of confinement. However, if you discover that we actually received the information within 90 days after an inmate’s confinement, enter the correct receipt date on the PUPS record. After entering the new receipt date on the PUPS record, PUPS will recalculate the incentive payment amount. For instructions on coding the receipt date, see MSOM PRISON 003.001.

4. Incentive payments for concurrent cases

A concurrent beneficiary has entitlement to and receives both Title II and Title XVI benefits. When we receive a participating institution’s timely inmate information and we identify a concurrent beneficiary whose payments we stop, we pay each title’s proportional incentive payment to the institution from both titles.

a. Suspension on both titles from the same inmate report

We will pay an incentive payment for each inmate report that leads to suspension of benefits on either title or both titles. If we suspend payments under only one title, we pay the incentive payment from that title. If we suspend payments under both titles at the same time, based on the same confinement report, from the same reporting institution, we pay that reporting institution only one incentive payment. However, we pay 50 percent of the incentive payment from both titles.

EXAMPLE 1 (Prior to 8/09/18)

Beneficiary A received both Title II and Title XVI concurrent benefits. On 1/31/2018, Sheriff Z arrested Beneficiary A for theft under $500. After his arrest and booking, Beneficiary A began his incarceration in CDE Jail. On 2/6/2018, CDE Jail transferred Beneficiary A to FGH Jail to await his trial. Beneficiary A went to trial for his crime. The court found him guilty of his crime and convicted him on 2/17/2018. On 2/20/2018, the court subsequently sentenced him to 6 months of confinement at FGH Jail.

FGH Jail prepared and sent their monthly inmate admission report to us for the incentive payment program on 2/28/2018. We received FGH Jail’s inmate report on 2/28/2018. PUPS created a concurrent PUPS alert and sent the alert to the field office (FO) for processing. On 3/22/2018 after we gave Beneficiary A his administration rights and protections, the FO technician suspended each title’s portion of Beneficiary A’s combined monthly payment. Since FGH Jail’s timely inmate report led us to stop payments on Beneficiary A’s Title II and Title XVI benefits, PUPS will post $200 (1/2 of the $400 T16 incentive payment) to the T16 Prisoner Status Query (P6QY) screen and $200 (1/2 of the $400 T2 incentive payment) to the T2 Prisoner Status Query (P2QY) screen. After the Bounty Update Control System (BUCS) does its sweep on 4/1/2018, we will pay $400 to FGH Jail for the inmate information they provided us to stop Beneficiary A’s concurrent benefits.

EXAMPLE 2 (08/09/18 forward)

Beneficiary B receives both Title II and Title XVI concurrent monthly benefits. KLM Jail’s sheriff arrested Beneficiary B on 7/1/2018 and a court tried, convicted, and sentenced him for a misdemeanor on 8/3/2018. On 8/3/2018, the court sentenced Beneficiary B to 90 days in KLM Jail. On 8/31/2018, KLM Jail prepared their monthly inmate report for the incentive payment program and sent the report to us. We received the inmate report on 9/1/2018.

After we provided all administrative rights and protections to Beneficiary B, we suspended his Title XVI benefits retroactive to 8/01/2018 and his Title II benefits to 8/2018. PUPS posted $100 (1/2 of the $200 T16 incentive payment) to the T16 Prisoner Status Query (P6QY) screen and $200 (1/2 of the $400 T2 incentive payment) to the T2 Prisoner Status Query (P2QY) screen. When the Bounty Update Control System (BUCS) did its sweep on 11/1/2018, it sent a payment of $300 to the Office of Finance to pay KLM Jail for the inmate report that it provided. In summary, PUPS paid $200 from the Title II RSI trust fund and it paid $100 from the Title XVI SSI General Fund for a total incentive payment of $300.00.

b. Suspension on only one title, second inmate report received

If we receive timely inmate information from a participating reporter that leads to suspension of only one part of a beneficiary’s concurrent monthly benefit, we will pay an incentive on that title’s suspension. If we receive a second timely confinement report that leads to a suspension of the benefits payable on the other title of a beneficiary’s concurrent payment, we will pay a second incentive payment to a participating institution for that inmate information.

EXAMPLE:

On 3/30/2018, KLM Jail reported to the local SSA field office that they arrested and confined Beneficiary C on 3/30/2018. Beneficiary C remained in KLM Jail awaiting his trial. Beneficiary C receives concurrent Title II and Title XVI benefits. After we provided all administrative rights and protections to Beneficiary C, we suspended his Title XVI benefits on 5/30/2018 retroactive to 4/1/2108. On 5/30/2018, PUPS calculated and posted a Title XVI incentive payment of $400 to the P6QY screen for KLM Jail.

On 7/14/2018, SSA Central Office received an inmate report from NOP Prison with new inmate information that reported a conviction for Beneficiary C on 6/15/2018. This new inmate information now requires us to suspend his Title II portion of his concurrent benefit. After we provided all administrative rights and protections to Beneficiary C, we suspended his Title II benefits on 8/25/2018 retroactive to 06/2018. PUPS calculated and posted a Title II incentive payment of $400 to the P2QY screen on 8/25/2018 for NOP Prison. On 9/1/2018, PUPS performed its sweep and sent an incentive payment of $400 to NOP prisons.

For more information on how PUPS processes incentive payments for concurrent cases, see MSOM PRISON 003.001.

C. Disbursement of incentive payments

1. Disbursement process

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After a Title II or Title XVI prisoner suspension occurs, PUPS calculates an incentive payment, if appropriate, and posts the incentive payment money amount to the INCENTIVE DATA field on the Title II query screen (P2QY), or the Title XVI query screen (P6QY). PUPS leaves the INCENTIVE DATE field blank until its monthly incentive payment sweep operation occurs.
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On the first business day of each month, the BUCS performs a sweep operation by searching the entire PUPS system for records where it posted an incentive payment to the INCENTIVE DATA field. (The date entry for the INCENTIVE DATE field is blank.)
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Once BUCS locates all unpaid incentive payment records, it passes the records to the Office of Finance for payment via electronic fund transfer (EFT) to the bank account indicated on the institution’s Incentive Payment Identification (IPID) Screen.
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We pay all incentive payments via EFT during the first business week of each month. EFTs generally transfer to the institution’s (i.e., reporter’s) bank account within four business days after BUCS performs the sweep

NOTE: We always pay incentive payments via EFT. We will not pay an incentive payment using alternative payment methods, e.g., paper checks, debit cards, etc. For more information on the incentive payment process, see MSOM PRISON 003.001. For instructions on recouping incentive payments paid incorrectly to a correctional or mental health institution, see GN 02607.830B.

2. Stopping incentive payments before release

Situations may occur where we initially suspend monthly benefits but then subsequently learn that:

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a beneficiary or recipient was incorrectly identified as a prisoner,
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an incarcerated beneficiary’s or recipient’s stay in a correctional or a mental health institution was less than a full calendar month or sentence was 30 days or less; or
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a Title II beneficiary was not convicted of a crime or committed by court order.

If PUPS suspended the beneficiary’s or recipient’s payment and calculated an incentive payment, but did not pay the incentive payment, we must stop payment of the incentive. For information on what PUPS annotates to a beneficiary’s or recipient’s PUPS P2QY or P6QY screen, when it schedules a record for payment of the incentive, see GN 02607.800C.1 in this section and MSOM PRISON 003.001F.

To stop the release of the incentive payment before the monthly sweep, update the beneficiary’s or recipient’s release date to the RELEASED DATE field on the beneficiary’s T2 Prisoner Update Screen (PU02) or the recipient’s T16 Prisoner Update Screen (PU06). For information on the T2 Prisoner Update Processing Screen (PU02), see MSOM PRISON 003.006 and for information on the T16 Prisoner Update Processing Screen (PU16), see MSOM PRISON 003.008.

When BUCS performs its monthly sweep for incentive payments, it examines each pending incentive payment for the presence of a RELEASED DATE and compares it to the CONFINEMENT DATE to determine if the suspension should have occurred. If BUCS determines that we should not pay the incentive, BUCS removes the incentive payment from the PUPS record.

If you could not stop payment of the incorrectly paid incentive to the correctional or mental health institution, request its return using form SSA-L4020, Prisoner Incentive Payment Recoupment Notice. For instructions on requesting return of an incorrectly paid incentive payment, see GN 02607.832.

D. Incentive payment notification to the reporter

After releasing the monthly incentive payment by EFT, BUCS sends the reporter a payment documentation letter. The letter states the amount of the EFT and the date of deposit.

An enclosed summary page(s) provides a detailed list of the reporter’s incentive payment activity for the month and displays the following information for each incentive payment we paid:

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SSN -- only the last 4-digits of the SSN are shown;
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Inmate identification number;
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Incentive payment amount -- $200, $300, or $400;
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Report date -- date facility prepared the report;
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Receipt date -- date we received the inmate data; and
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Date confined – confinement date verified by FO.

NOTE: All personnel who will have access to these notices must realize the confidential nature of the personally identifiable information (PII) on these notices. Staff must take care to safeguard and protect the incentive payment notice PII data in accordance with the terms of the reporter’s IPMOU reporting agreement with the agency.

You can view or re-issue an incentive payment notice by accessing the letter from the Prisoner folder of the Online Retrieval System. Refer all questions regarding the incentive payment notice to your RPC. For information on contacting your RPC, see GN 02607.990A.

Social Security

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)

GN 02607.800 SSA's Title II and Title XVI Incentive Payment Programs