Staffing
Staffing
During Incarceration
Every jurisdiction may want to set up different staff structures to oversee benefit planning in jail or prison (see Justice Center case studies for examples of how some states and jurisdictions have set up discharge planning processes related to benefits). Regardless of how duties are delegated, officials should ideally organize staff in such a way that one or multiple staff members are responsible for the following responsibilities:
- Screening incoming inmates for disability and potential eligibility for SSI/SSDI, Medicaid, and food stamps
- Ascertaining previous or current Medicaid or SSI/SSDI eligibility among incoming inmates
- Recording potential, previous, or current benefit eligibility in inmate records
- Initiating benefits applications at least 90 days in advance of a release date for SSI/SSDI when prerelease agreements exist and 60 days in advance for Medicaid for eligible individuals
- Collecting medical and nonmedical documentation required for application, including clinical information used to substantiate disability claims
- Filling out applications; ideally such individuals have been specially trained to fill out benefits applications
- Submitting applications to benefit agencies and tracking necessary disability evaluations
- Informing benefit agencies of expected and actual release dates to facilitate prompt conferral of benefits and/or consideration of applications
- Communicating with community corrections or case management organizations to oversee continuation of benefit applications, appeals, or conferral of benefits
Postincarceration
Representative Payees under SSI/SSDI
A representative payee is an individual or organization that receives Social Security and/or SSI payments for someone who cannot manage or direct the management of his or her money. Payees should use the funds for the current and foreseeable needs of the beneficiary and save any remaining funds for the beneficiary’s future use.[1] SSA staff may appoint representative payees in cases in which a court has deemed someone legally incompetent or in which medical evidence suggests that an individual is “mentally or physically incapable of managing benefit payments or directing the management of his or her benefit.” When SSA is considering appointing a representative payee, it can add additional time to process the application.
Ideally, family members or spouses act as representative payees; however, SSA also allows organizations to fulfill this role. Corrections officials say they often encounter situations in which individuals with serious mental illness need representative payees yet do not know anyone who can serve in this capacity. To that end, officials can consider developing agreements with community case management organizations, nonprofits, or other organizations to act as representative payees for individuals with mental illness returning from prisons or jails to speed up conferral of benefits (see Washington D.C. Bread for the City Representative Payee Program example).
Such entities may be eligible to collect a fee from the SSI recipients or SSDI beneficiaries’ monthly payments as reimbursement for services rendered by serving as the person’s representative payee. Such payment may provide incentive for these organizations to engage in such agreements with the corrections agency.[2]
[1] “Stepping Stones to Recovery: A Case Manager’s Manual for Assisting Adults who are Homeless, with Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income Applications,” Chapter 9: Representative Payees
[2] Social Security Administration Fee for Service Fact Sheet