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Accountability Audit
Incarcerated Individuals Receiving
Unemployment Benefits
March 7, 2016

We conducted an accountability audit to identify people receiving unemployment
benefits while in a county jail in Washington. We looked at individuals in eight
of the 57 jails in the state and identified 1,911 potential overpayments worth
approximately $656,000 over a 15-month period between July 1, 2013, and
September 30, 2014.
The Employment Security Department began reviewing many of these
payments during the course of our review and has denied benefits to many
ineligible people as a result. While the Department does have access to a
system containing jail records, we found the data in that system is incomplete:
within the 1,911 potential overpayments we identified 163 payments, worth
about $48,000, associated with records missing from the system Employment
Security uses.
The agency needs the authority to obtain the complete population of incarceration
records used by other state agencies in preventing benefit overpayments.

Au dit N u m b e r: 1 0 1 5 8 1 3

Table of Contents
Executive Summary

3

Introduction

5

Background

6

Scope and Methodology

7

Audit Results

8

Recommendations

11

Agency Response

12

Appendix A: 2014 Washington State Jail Statistics

13

Appendix B: Selected Counties by Population
and Unemployment Rate

15

Appendix C: Detailed Breakdown of Audit Results

16

The mission of the Washington State Auditor’s Office State Auditor’s Office contacts
The State Auditor’s Office holds state and local governments
accountable for the use of public resources.
The results of our work are widely distributed through a variety
of reports, which are available on our website and through our
free, electronic subscription service.
We take our role as partners in accountability seriously. We
provide training and technical assistance to governments and
have an extensive quality assurance program.
For more information about the State Auditor’s Office, visit
www.sao.wa.gov.

Americans with Disabilities
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, this
document will be made available in alternative formats. Please
email Communications@sao.wa.gov for more information.

State Auditor Troy Kelley
360-902-0370, Auditor@sao.wa.gov

Jan M. Jutte, CPA, CGFM – Deputy State Auditor
360-902-0360, Jan.Jutte@sao.wa.gov
Chuck Pfeil, CPA – Director of State & Performance Audit
360-902-0366, Chuck.Pfeil@sao.wa.gov
Troy Niemeyer – Deputy Director of State Audit
360-725-5363, Troy.Niemeyer@sao.wa.gov
Tara Lindholm, CISA – Assistant Audit Manager
360-725-5425 – Tara.Lindholm@sao.wa.gov
Joel Todd – Audit Lead
360-725-5563 – Joel.Todd@sao.wa.gov
Adam Wilson – Deputy Director for Communications
360-902-0367, Adam.Wilson@sao.wa.gov

To request public records
Public Records Officer
360-725-5617, PublicRecords@sao.wa.gov

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits | 2

Executive Summary
We identified potential overpayments of $656,000 in
unemployment benefits made to people in jail
People in jail or prison are almost always – by definition – unavailable to work: a
key criterion for allowing unemployment benefits. Our review found 1,911 potential
overpayments totaling $655,736 related to people in jail getting Unemployment
Insurance benefits. We also compared the Jail Booking and Reporting System
(JBRS), a multi-jurisdictional database and search engine for criminal justice
agencies across the country, used by the Employment Security Department
for investigations to jail records from eight selected counties. We identified 55
jail records available from the counties that did not appear in JBRS data used
by Employment Security. From our final results, we identified 163 benefit-week
payments totaling $47,644 that were potentially improper, based on the 55
incarceration records not in the jail booking system Employment Security used.
These improper payments would not have been identified relying only on the jail
booking system.

Identifying payments to people in jail or prison
Government assistance benefits paid out to incarcerated individuals can be a
common overpayment for Washington state agencies. With the knowledge that this
can occur, state agencies must prevent, or identify and recover, these overpayments
where possible. The most effective method to identify these individuals is to use
incarceration records from the 12 prison facilities and 57 jails across the state.
The Department of Corrections maintains all data on people being held in a state
prison; but obtaining a detailed history of jail records is a more difficult process
because jails are run separately by cities, counties or tribes.
Employment Security’s Office of Special Investigations receives prison data from
Corrections, so it can compare prison inmates to Unemployment Insurance data
on a regular basis. Special Investigations also has access to JBRS. However, the
access allowed to Special Investigations only permits it to conduct individual
searches of historical incarceration information: it cannot automate a large-scale
analysis of many historical jail records at once. Because Employment Security
already completes a large-scale review of prison inmates, we concentrated our
review on county jail records at eight of the state’s 57 county jails.

Availability of jail register data
Local jail register data, which includes the name of each person confined in a
jail, the hour, date and cause of the confinement, and the hour, date and manner
of discharge, is available to the public per RCW 70.48.100. Any additional
information – such as Social Security numbers that could be used in a cross-match
– is confidential and typically only made available to criminal justice agencies.
To assist some agencies in this matter, the 2014 State Legislature passed a bill that
added the State Auditor’s Office, the Health Care Authority, and the Research
and Data Analysis Division of the Department of Social and Health Services as
agencies able to obtain and use the confidential information associated with jail
register data for the purpose of research in the public interest. This allowed our
Office to obtain the information necessary to complete the cross-match conducted
in this audit.
Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Executive Summary | 3

However, this bill did not include the Employment Security Department,
which administers the Unemployment Insurance program that provides
benefits to unemployed workers for periods of involuntary unemployment. The
Unemployment Insurance program paid more than $1.1 billion in benefits to about
250,000 people in 2014, while during that year, on average, there were 12,618 people
in jail, serving an average of 15.3 days.

Recommendations
We recommend the State Legislature:
• Add the Employment Security Department to the law (RCW 70.48.100)
allowing specified agencies to obtain personal jail data information
necessary to cross-match Unemployment Insurance payments to
incarceration records.
We recommend the Employment Security Department:
1. Work with the Legislature to amend the applicable law (RCW 70.48.100),
allowing the Department to obtain personal information associated with
jail register data necessary to cross-match Unemployment Insurance
payments to incarceration records.
2. Utilize other sources for obtaining incarceration records for
counties where the Jail Booking and Reporting System does not
contain all records.
3. Follow-up on all potential improper payments identified during
our testing.
4. Continue to identify and investigate potential improper payments made to
people in jail, and recoup any and all confirmed overpayments.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Executive Summary | 4

Introduction
People in jails or prisons sometimes receive benefits they
are not eligible for
In Washington, several agencies provide benefits to residents when they need
help, including the Department of Social and Health Services and the Health Care
Authority, which help people pay for food, health care and housing. People in jail
or prison are not eligible for certain types of government assistance, but unless the
agency providing the benefits is aware of their imprisonment, it cannot prevent or
recover inappropriate payments. While some ineligible prisoners may be identified
through outside tips or news reports, it is much more effective for the agencies to
compare detailed jail and prison records with their participant population.
The 2014 State Legislature saw the importance of identifying these types of
overpayments when it passed a bill (RCW 70.48.100) that added the State Auditor’s
Office, the Health Care Authority and the Department of Social and Health
Services as agencies able to obtain and use the confidential information in jail
registers “for the purpose of research in the public interest.” However, the law
did not include the Employment Security Department, which administers the
Unemployment Insurance program, providing benefits to unemployed workers
for periods of involuntary unemployment. The program, funded by the federal
government and taxes on employers, paid more than $1.1 billion in Unemployment
Insurance benefits to about 250,000 people in 2014. The sheer size of the program
may make it more susceptible to distributing benefits to ineligible people, including
prisoners who are – by definition – not “able and available for work.”

Audit objectives
The objective of this accountability audit was to assess the impact of improper
Unemployment Insurance benefits paid by the Employment Security Department
to people in jail. We designed this audit to answer the following question:
• Are improper payments for unemployment benefits being made to
incarcerated people?
• If improper payments are identified, determine:
▫ The dollar amount of the improper payments.
▫ How many individuals received Unemployment Insurance
payments while in jail.

The Unemployment
Insurance program
serves as test case
With simpler rules than
other state programs,
results from an audit of this
program could indicate the
need for additional analysis
at other benefit programs
in the state.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Introduction | 5

Background
Using prison and jail records to identify overpayments
The most effective way to identify overpayments made to people in prison or jail is
to use detailed incarceration records. The source of these records differs depending
on whether the records relate to a prison or a jail. The Department of Corrections
operates the 12 prison facilities in Washington, housing people sentenced to more
than a year and a day in confinement. The average daily population of all 12 prisons
is more than 16,000.
Jails, on the other hand, are run independently by cities, counties or tribes. They
house people sentenced to serve one year or less in confinement – sometimes as
little as one day. Washington’s 57 jails have an average daily population of more
than 12,000 (see Appendix A for additional jail statistics). Although jails house
fewer people than prisons on a daily basis, the shorter sentences mean that many
more people will serve time in jail over the course of a year.
Some state agencies, including the Employment Security Department, have set
up agreements with Corrections to obtain prison records that they can use to
cross-match to their assistance payment data, allowing them to easily automate
the identification of overpayments to prisoners. Identifying people in jails is not as
straightforward. While most jails contribute information to the Jail Booking and
Reporting System (JBRS), a multi-jurisdictional database and search engine for
criminal justice agencies across the country, uniform detailed jail incarceration
records cannot be procured from a single source.

Unemployment Insurance eligibility depends on
“able and available”
State law requires an unemployed individual to be able and available for work in
any trade, occupation, profession or business for which he or she is reasonably
fitted (RCW 50.20.010). If an eligible person is available for work for less than a
full week, the weekly benefit amount is reduced by one-seventh for each day he or
she is unavailable for work. A person who is unavailable for work for three days
or more out of seven is considered unavailable for the entire week, and will not
receive unemployment benefits for that week.

What is able and available
for work?
You are able to work if
you have the physical and
mental capacity and the
legal right to work each day
you claim benefits.
You are available for work if
you are immediately ready
and capable of accepting
suitable work in your labor
market. You must be ready
to accept the work during
all customary hours for your
occupation each day of
the week you are claiming
benefits.
From the Handbook for
Unemployed Workers,
Employment Security
Department
(emphasis added)

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Background | 6

Scope and Methodology
To meet the audit objective, we needed to compare jail records to Unemployment
Insurance records to identify people who would not have met Employment
Security’s criteria for unemployment benefits during the period of our audit, July
1, 2013, to September 30, 2014.
We selected eight counties – King, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, Spokane, Kitsap,
Snohomish and Yakima – based on their population and unemployment rates.
(See Appendix B for data about the eight counties.) We obtained more than
180,000 incarceration records associated with more than 100,000 people from the
eight county jails.
We also examined Unemployment Insurance data from Employment Security for
the same period; these records contained more than $1.8 billion in payments made
to more than 300,000 people.
We matched the Unemployment Insurance and jail records for each county by
Social Security number and by last name and date of birth. We concentrated on
only those matches where prisoners were unavailable for work for three or more
days of the week, because that makes them ineligible for the entire week and would
result in a denied claim for that week. We identified 2,340 matched records, which
we then examined in detail.

Searching for explanations of matched records
We researched each of the 2,340 cases to see if any information was available to
prove the unemployment benefit payment was correct. Our resources for this
review included:
• The Standard Occupational Classification code related to each individual
receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits. This code was received
from Employment Security and indicates the most likely type of job an
individual will seek. This allowed us to determine the most likely work
schedule the individual would have when on the job.
• Records in JBRS. With the exception of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, all
city and county jails in Washington are connected to this system; some
counties provide additional information to the booking system that we
may not have received directly in our data request, such as aliases or time
spent on work release or house arrest.
• The results of Employment Security internal investigations conducted
during our review.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Scope and Methodology | 7

Audit Results
Ineligible people in jail received unemployment benefits
Based upon 15 months of jail records
from eight counties and Employment
Security’s unemployment benefits records,
we identified 1,911 potential overpayments
worth about $656,000. Working with
Employment Security, we were able to
confirm 756 of them during the audit
fieldwork, constituting overpayments of
about $257,000. Employment Security will
need to investigate the remaining 1,155
matches, worth around $398,000, but of
these, 736 (around $243,000) are likely to be
overpayments. The final 419 matches (around
$156,000) may be acceptable payments,
depending on the individual circumstances
of each case. Exhibit 1 illustrates these
results. An additional breakdown of the
results can be found in Appendix C.

Exhibit 1 − Overpayments confirmed or suspected
Unemployment insurance payments made to people in jail between
July 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014

$156,000
$257,000
confirmed
by ESD

Depending on a
person’s circumstances,
such as house arrest
or work release,
these payments may
be acceptable

$243,000
overpayments
not confirmed
by ESD

Our audit found barriers to confirming matches
While many of our matches have already been confirmed as overpayments by
Employment Security, or are likely to be overpayments based upon the information
gathered, some cases will require additional research before they can be confirmed
as overpayments. After the completion of our audit, Employment Security’s
investigators will obtain information directly from both the individual and the
county where the incarceration occurred. However, we found several barriers that
prevent Employment Security from easily and efficiently identifying people in jail
who should not be receiving unemployment benefits.

Employment Security does not have easy access to
jail records
Employment Security’s Office of Special Investigations reviews potential improper
payments and determines if the payments are legitimate or if an amount should
be recovered. Special Investigations receives prison data from Corrections, which
allows investigators to compare prison inmates to Unemployment Insurance
recipients on a regular basis. As a limited law enforcement agency, the Special
Investigations Office is permitted to access JBRS. However, that only allows Special
Investigations to access the incarceration history for one individual at a time: it is
not able to automate a large-scale search of historical jail records.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Audit Results | 8

Incomplete records in JBRS
When we compared jail records supplied by county jails to records in JBRS, we
found that 55 records were not in the booking system. About 160 payments, worth
about $48,000, were associated with those 55 records. Without these records,
Employment Security would not be able to identify these individuals.
Also, by comparing the records sent to us directly by jails to the data they uploaded
to JBRS, we found the records in JBRS are not always as complete as the records
they maintain locally. Of the eight counties reviewed in our audit, we found the
records for three were not included in JBRS completely.

Certain circumstances will always require in-depth review by
Employment Security
Two types of potential overpayments we found during our evaluation will require
additional review by Employment Security: people serving their time under house
arrest and people on work release.
Under some circumstances, people under house arrest or on work release may be
available for interviews and to take up a job offer. However, counties have differing
rules surrounding availability for work release, and the factors of an individual’s
sentence may also affect availability.
Due to these variations from county to county and case to case, even if we
identified a person as being on work release, we did not have enough information
to confirm that person’s unemployment compensation as an overpayment. Of
the 419 matches requiring additional review by Employment Security, these two
issues make up 75 percent of the cases.
Another issue, affecting 78 of the matches, were those people whose cases were
under investigation by Employment Security before the start of our audit.
Employment Security must continue making payments to people who are
under investigation until they are found to be ineligible. Conditional pay flags
are placed on these records, but remain in the system regardless of Employment
Security’s final determination. The pay flag may or may not be associated with the
incarceration identified during our audit. Employment Security will continue its
investigation to decide if the flag previously identified an overpayment or not.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Audit Results | 9

Employment Security is already making improvements
Employment Security’s Office of Special Investigations told us during our review
that any tips regarding overpayments are followed-up on as resources allow.
Special Investigations began investigating cases based upon our preliminary
results during the early stages of our audit, which allowed us to confirm numerous
overpayments during our testing phase, and also implemented new procedures
during the course of our review.
As noted earlier, the main search function of JBRS allows the user to search for
one individual and see that individual’s history of incarceration. During the
course of our audit, Employment Security identified a report allowing it to view
all recent incarcerations in the booking system. Special Investigations has now
implemented a process to run this report several times a week to build a list of
current incarcerations and compare those to unemployment benefit payments. This
workaround will allow Special Investigations to identify possible overpayments
with the help of the booking system proactively.
While this process does not provide historical records, and our results showed the
booking system is not always complete for all jails, Employment Security’s action
should improve the identification of payments to incarcerated individuals.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Audit Results | 10

Recommendations
We recommend the State Legislature:
• Add the Employment Security Department to the law (RCW 70.48.100)
allowing specified agencies to obtain personal jail data information
necessary to cross-match Unemployment Insurance payments to
incarceration records.
We recommend the Employment Security Department:
1. Work with the Legislature to amend the applicable law (RCW 70.48.100),
allowing the Department to obtain personal information associated with
jail register data necessary to cross-match Unemployment Insurance
payments to incarceration records.
2. Utilize other sources for obtaining incarceration records for
counties where the Jail Booking and Reporting System does not
contain all records.
3. Follow-up on all potential improper payments identified during
our testing.
4. Continue to identify and investigate potential improper payments made to
people in jail, and recoup any and all confirmed overpayments.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Recommendations | 11

Agency Response
The Employment Security Department appreciates the feedback received from the
State Auditor’s Office. The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) is committed to
preserving the integrity of the Unemployment Trust Fund. OSI conducts many
types of audits throughout the year on unemployment claims to ensure the
accuracy of benefit payments made. Individuals found to have committed fraud
are assessed penalties (RCW 50.20.070), are required to repay the amount identified
as overpaid (RCW 50.20.190), and are subject to possible state or federal criminal
prosecution.
The Department accepts the Auditor’s recommendations that we continue to
identify and investigate all potential improper payments identified through this
audit. As of December 29, 2015, OSI has completed its investigation of the 1,911
potentially improper payments identified in the audit. Of those payments, 1,264
were partially or fully denied, resulting in $420,363 of overpayments established
and now in collections; to date, nearly $100,000 of this amount has been recovered.
The Department welcomes all efforts to strengthen and improve our abilities
to detect and prevent improper payments to ineligible claimants. The Office of
Special Investigations regularly reviews available incarceration records against
existing claims, but as the audit notes, we do not have access to all available
information for these investigations. We also concur with the observation that the
data we do have access to may vary widely in quality and accuracy. We agree with
the Auditor’s recommendation to add the Department as an authorized agency
under RCW 70.48.100. OSI also continues to identify and utilize other sources
for incarceration data to better enhance our ability to detect and prevent these
improper payments.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Agency Response | 12

Appendix A: 2014 Washington State Jail Statistics
County jail
Adams

Average daily
population

Percentage
of use

Average length
of stay (days)

26

93%

16

Asotin

58

252%

38

Benton

686

93%

15

Clallam

125

104%

14

Clark*

761

93%

18

10

125%

21

291

82%

13

33

63%

30

192

123%

15

Columbia
Cowlitz
Ferry
Franklin
Garfield

10

63%

12

Grant

211

114%

20

Grays Harbor

145

82%

26

Island

54

93%

20

Jefferson

48

98%

19

2,031

78%

22

Kitsap*

435

89%

20

Kittitas

92

40%

8

King*

Klickitat

47

96%

10

205

58%

17

Lincoln

23

92%

8

Mason

115

111%

14

Okanogan

166

91%

21

Pacific

42

145%

18

Pend Oreille

28

90%

12

1,133

66%

30

Lewis

Pierce*
San Juan
Skagit
Skamania
Snohomish*
Spokane*
Stevens
Thurston*
Wahkiakum
Walla Walla

Not reported

0

238

2

287%

21

25

53%

13

1,028

83%

18

893

133%

16

41

103%

8

414

101%

21

7

50%

20

71

62%

8

Whatcom

408

137%

22

Whitman

41

121%

13

Yakima*

792

67%

29

Note: * indicates counties selected for review.

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Appendix A | 13

Multi-jurisdiction
facility

Average daily
population

Percentage of
use

Chelan County
Regional Justice
Center

265

69%

18

SCORE South
Correctional Entity

618

77%

8

Average daily
population

Percentage of
use

Average length
of stay (days)
Not reported

City or tribal jail

Average length
of stay (days)

Aberdeen

12

57%

Enumclaw

20

80%

7

203

564%

11

28

70%

30

8

50%

5

62

100%

9

117

89%

11

Kirkland

16

133%

2

Lynnwood

40

87%

6

Marysville

44

77%

11

Fife
Forks
Grandview
Issaquah
Kent

Nisqually

Not reported

Not reported

Not reported

Oak Harbor

Not reported

Not reported

Not reported

Olympia

25

89%

5

Puyallup

49

94%

5

Sunnyside

45

53%

11

Toppenish

20

36%

8

Wapato

59

88%

16

Yakima

60

76%

17

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Appendix A | 14

Appendix B: Selected Counties By Population and
Unemployment Rate
Population estimates of eight Washington counties in this audit
As of April 1, 2014
2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0
King

Pierce

Thurston

Clark

Spokane

Kitsap

Snohomish

Yakima

All other
counties

Unemployment rates in eight Washington counties in this audit
Percent of county population, August 2014

9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
King

Pierce

Thurston

Clark

Spokane

Kitsap

Snohomish

Yakima

State
average

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Appendix B | 15

Appendix C: Detailed Breakdown of Audit Results
Summary of Potential Overpayments by Category
Number of payments

Dollar amount

Percentage of
total payments

Likely overpayments based on Social Security
Numbers or name/date of birth match

736

$242,568

37%

Overpayments confirmed during audit fieldwork
by Employment Security

756

$257,251

39%

Category

Overpayment Categories Needing Additional Analysis by the Department
Individuals on home incarceration

158

$57,438

9%

Individuals on work release

156

$63,086

10%

Payments made during prior Employment Security
reviews

78

$20,612

3%

Social Security numbers matched but not name

27

$14,781

2%

1,911

$655,736

100%

Totals

Incarcerated Individuals Receiving Unemployment Benefits :: Appendix C | 16