From Seattle station KIRO:
Audit: State paying unemployment to people in jail
Many people in county jails are receiving unemployment benefits they're ineligible for, according to a state audit released on Monday.
Washington's auditor's office scrutinized eight county jails and identified 1,911 potential overpayments worth about $656,000 from July 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014.
People in jail or prison aren't eligible for certain government benefits. To find incarcerated people who received unemployment benefits, the audit looked at jails in King, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, Spokane, Kitsap, Snohomish and Yakima counties, matching records of unemployment benefits to jail records such as Social Security number, last name and date of birth. But the employment department, which distributes unemployment money, can't access some of the confidential jail records necessary to find improper payments, according to a report by the auditor's office.
Why that's... criminal Sounds like the bureaucrats need to spend some quality time in the graybar hotel themselves for not finding this scam. Our tax dollars at work.
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