Federal Government Issued $783.5M in Stimulus Checks for Prisoners

Federal Government Issued $783.5M in Stimulus Checks for Prisoners

When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written, there will be much criticism and condescension heaped upon public health professionals.

But sharing in the derision will be the politicians and fiscal bureaucrats who shuttered businesses across the country and doled out “stimulus checks” to replace income.

Additional ire will be directed to those who decided the prison population needed to receive tax dollars are part of the response to the pandemic.

The federal government doled out $783.5 million for incarcerated individuals as part of the American Rescue Plan, Fox News has learned.

In response to a public records request from conservative group American Crossroads, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that the money flowed to 560,000 individuals who were incarcerated for the full tax year 2020.

Passed in March, the American Rescue Plan granted $1,400 in stimulus money to people making less than $75,000 per year.

“Earlier this year, every single Senate Democrat voted to give stimulus checks to violent criminals in prison,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a statement to Fox News.

“Sending cash to murderers and rapists in prison has nothing to do with solving the pandemic or improving the economy. Now, the same people who sent hundreds of millions of dollars as gifts to these inmates want to spend trillions more in an even bigger and more partisan bill.”

The Republican senators warned that this development would not go over well Americans of all political persuasions. Still, the Democrats persisted.

When Senators pointed out that Democrats' January $1.9 TRILLION spending bill would send checks to prisoners…

The Washington Post fact-checker gave the claim 2 Pinocchios

And here we are

The government doled out $783.5 million in checks to prisonershttps://t.co/gSck51oiW3

— Christy Lewis (@Cavalewis) July 30, 2021

There were over 500,000 inmates who received stimulus checks.

The revelation comes following a public records request from conservative group American Crossroads which pushed the IRS to release its figures confirming they distributed the aid to 560,000 incarcerated individuals for the full tax year 2020.

…Since Biden’s plan was passed through Congress back in March, it allocated $1,400 in stimulus funds to eligible Americans who earned less than $75,000 per year.

Both Sen. Cotton and fellow Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana tried to put the brakes on the critically needed monies going to prisoners back in March.

But their amendment failed to pass through the Democrat-dominated Congress, with lawmakers voting along party lines, Fox News confirmed.

Additionally, a federal judge also ruled that inmates were also eligible for the checks issued under the Trump administration, which ensured that some $1.5 billion in benefits went to 1.5 million prisoners. For example, 2 “stimulus checks” went into the account of convicted sexual abuser Larry Nassar:

Not all prisoners received the payments. First of all, they would have had to file tax returns for 2019, or request the payments through an online portal, and inmates in solitary confinement or other close supervision may not have had access to the computers or paper forms needed.

As well, some prison systems have been seizing the funds in cases where inmates own back child support payments or victim restitution.

But in the case of Nassar, who is in federal prison in Florida, the stimulus checks appear to have gone straight through to his inmate account, despite orders for him to pay $57,500 in restitution to his victims.

The Bureau of Prisons allows inmates to keep unlimited amounts of money in their accounts and effectively shields much of that money from collection by various entities, The Washington Post reported.

Nassar, 57, was arrested at the end of 2017 and in February 2018 sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison, for sexually abusing hundreds of young female athletes. He was also convicted of possession of child pornography in 2017.

A look at Nassar’s account activity indicated he does not seem to be in a rush to give restitution to his victims.

Simone Biles is the last active American woman in the Olympics that was molested by Larry Nassar.

Nassar has been in the news this week. Not for molesting Simone. But for spending nearly 10k in prison, getting stimulus checks. While not paying his victims restitution. pic.twitter.com/A64pGQpbh1

— Dwann B 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@dwannb) July 31, 2021

Researchers are now studying ways to eliminate COVID19 “brain fog” that is being reported among some infected patients. I hope they find the cure soon, and use it on the politicians and bureaucrats who made this series of incredibly poor decisions.

In a nutshell: The Biden administration and the Democratic Party defunds the police while funding criminals. #Priorities

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