CHARLESTON —
A corrections policy going into effect on Aug. 1 will prohibit West Virginia’s work-release inmates from working in private-sector jobs that could give them access to Social Security numbers, says Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein.
The policy change came after Rubenstein questioned a Social Security Administration audit that indicated West Virginia was among eight states that give inmates access to Social Security numbers. He told the Charleston Gazette he believed the report suggested such programs were operated inside prison facilities.
West Virginia has never had such in-house programs, but Rubenstein said the department realized it did not have a policy involving work-release inmates who work in private businesses.
A federal official told the newspaper that audits conducted in 2006 and 2010 never implicated West Virginia as one of the states where inmates had access to Social Security numbers.
“Given the very clear language in our report, we disagree with the reported statement of the Commissioner for the Division of Corrections that our report was misleading,” assistant inspector general Jon Lasher said in a statement to the newspaper.
A March report briefly mentions West Virginia and says prisoners in an unknown number of facilities could have access to Social Security numbers. It says that their duties depend on the work-release program.
The state has about 220 work-release inmates. Such inmates must be classified as minimum security and cannot be sex offenders or have a history of violence.
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