Mar 1, 2024

The Effects Of Incarceration On Disability Benefits


     From The Impact of Past Incarceration on Later-Life DI and SSI Receipt by Gary V. Engelhardt:

  • Past incarceration reduces the career years of employment, in general, and the likelihood of meeting the DI [Disability Insurance] duration test, in particular, reducing eligibility for DI. 
  • Given the likely reduction in eligibility, however, past incarceration leads to a 30-percentage-point increase in the likelihood of applying for DI or SSI benefits, with an 18-percentage-point increase in the likelihood of benefit receipt. 
  • Past incarceration raises by about 20 percentage points the likelihood the individual is in poverty as measured by the federal poverty threshold. 

 The policy implications of the findings are:

  • At the aggregate level, DI rolls are about 300,000 higher for 50-61-year-old men because of past incarceration; SSI rolls are about 50,000 higher. 
  • Incarceration has resulted in about 375,000 additional men between 50 and 61 years of age being under the federal poverty threshold in the 2010-2016 period.  ...

    What I've seen over the years is that imprisonment is bad for your health. Unhealthy food, incredibly stressful living conditions and poor medical treatment are a big part of it but probably not all. Certainly, many convicted felons arrive in prison already suffering from significant health problems, both physical and mental.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soo, we are supposed to feel sorry for them? They are all innocent after all.

Anonymous said...

Yes, because presumably you aren’t a heartless monster and sociopath. Oh wait…..

Anonymous said...

What I’ve seen over the years is incarceration is really bad for your employment opportunities and leaves you with little else to do other than file for SSI. I suppose I could believe that it’s a pure coincidence that someone goes from working in the prison kitchen/cafeteria or doing dishwasher work as a requirement of their halfway house stay to not being able to do anything the minute it’s no longer required, but I tend to live in the real world.

Anonymous said...

Did it really need a 31-page report to reach such obvious conclusions?

Anonymous said...

Trolls and troglodytes. Working in a prison kitchen as a dishwasher is not the same as working at a restaurant. The pace and attendance requirements, among others, are quite different. Kind of like the difference between working at Fox and working at a legitimate news source. Go back to kicking kittens.

Anonymous said...

No

Anonymous said...

What about the dishwashing jobs done in actual restaurants or working in thrift stores taking and sorting donations as part of the requirements for a work release program to avoid further time in prison? Are those also not real jobs as they’re working FT for 3-12 months? Are they not under pressure, lifting heavier objects, etc. in those positions?

Anonymous said...

Having witnessed so many disparities in who goes to prison and who doesn't I can feel some sympathy. One of my clients did time for conspiracy - - - He was probably holding someone's drugs but he couldn't conspire to do anything. We won the hearing on a very low valid IQ. I've met a few who had bad attitudes and I don't worry with them, but some prison graduates are some of the nicest clients I've had. Also, disability caused by something that happened in prison is an automatic denial unless something has changed. But yes, being locked up is bad for your health and does aggravate existing problems.

Anonymous said...

The limitation on confinement related impairments only applies while they are confined. There is a limitation on felony related impairments but since these rules were introduced in 1980 I have not seen them used. SSA went out of their way to make them impossible to apply after Congress passed this legislation