Prisoners Collect Mllions in Unemployment Benefits
Another example of why we need to raise taxes in this country:
DID YOU KNOW that Philadelphia prison inmates collected unemployment benefits while sitting in their cells?
They did: 1,162 of them got an average of $344 a week for, on average, 18 weeks. That’s more than $7 million.
And many of the 25,500 inmates in other county jails in Pennsylvania did the same.
The column estimates that the state of Pennsylvania alone may have been paying as much as $27 million a year for an undetermined number of years.
Your tax dollars at work.
Via Drudge.
Unemployment benefits are stimulative!! the multiplier on those funds are ASTRONOMICAL (/Pelosi).
Chris (eafa5f) — 2/18/2013 @ 1:52 pmWhat exactly do you have against the noble, misunderstood, often-scorned Grifter-American community, Patterico? Are you some kind of bigot?
JVW (4826a9) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:01 pmImagine the stimulative affects that Pelosi and Obama will brag about.
SPQR (768505) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:07 pmIn a weird way, this story reminds me of what they are talking about on The Five today: Why the White House put a lid on press coverage of Obama’s golf this weekend. They speculated it might be to avoid photos of him with Tiger, or to limit photos of Obama golfing so soon after promising to help Americans find jobs. They asked if the press will finally get tired of being used by Obama.
I feel sure the press won’t change, except perhaps to become even more obsequious toward Obama. Ultimately, all these stories — wasted tax monies, an obsequious press, and a elitist President — are not news to half of the electorate. They just don’t care so, for now, it doesn’t matter if the rest of us care.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:17 pmwhere’s my fair share?
i wants my monies too!
redc1c4 (403dff) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:22 pmand a phone: i’m tired of having to come up with the $$ to pay for mine and it’s old annyway.
i’m entitled to a new phone damnit!
redc1c4 (403dff) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:23 pmMore “Social Justice”!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:41 pm“In a weird way, this story reminds me of what they are talking about on The Five today: Why the White House put a lid on press coverage of Obama’s golf this weekend. They speculated it might be to avoid photos of him with Tiger, or to limit photos of Obama golfing so soon after promising to help Americans find jobs.”
DRJ – Maybe Sen. Menendez arranged for some apres golf entertainment. Would not want any press coverage of that.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:44 pmI want to know something before I get all indignant; are these people being held before trial? Because if they are, then I’m not sure I see a problem …. unless they don’t have to reimburse the State if they are convicted.
C. S. P. Schofield (adb9dd) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:45 pmObama’s golfing with Tiger in Florida while Michelle and the girls are skiing in Colorado….
askeptic (b8ab92) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:47 pmHow much did that cost us?
Racist!!!!!!
Ipso Fatso (1e3278) — 2/18/2013 @ 2:49 pmthis seems like a more better link
happyfeet (acd614) — 2/18/2013 @ 3:29 pmI’m sure those convicts voted.
mg (31009b) — 2/18/2013 @ 3:48 pmI’m sure those convicts voted.
Well, I wouldn’t say they actually “voted” but I would be willing to bet that a ballot was returned in their name with every selection fully comporting to what Ed Rendell’s political machine wanted.
JVW (4826a9) — 2/18/2013 @ 4:20 pmSeveral times. Just like the dead.
Steve57 (60a887) — 2/18/2013 @ 4:26 pmWait to you find out how many veterans are getting their disability checks while in jail.
As long as the TBTF banks get free money why should we care if other little guys get free money.
Until the FED and its private owners go to jail- for the largest theft in the history of the world- why should we care about little scams like a couple of million each year going to the hardest to employ group?
Rotten to core our little country has become.
highpockets (4dacff) — 2/18/2013 @ 4:27 pmThe way things are working under the rule of the Magic Kingdom the A.D.A. will soon cover convicted criminals.
Theo (ba63cc) — 2/18/2013 @ 5:14 pmI blame global warming. Is there anything it can’t do?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/18/2013 @ 5:18 pmLadies, listen up:
Got that? You can’t have guns because the Democrats don’t think from whatever all-knowing perch they’re sitting upon that you might actually not be raped.
15 minutes after you’re dead, you’ve got their OK to open fire.
Steve57 (60a887) — 2/18/2013 @ 5:43 pmsilly rape victims this is why we have call boxes
but you have to take a little initiative girls jeez
happyfeet (acd614) — 2/18/2013 @ 6:07 pmcan you blow your rape whistle baby whistle baby let me know I’m gonna show you how to do it and we start real slow
so pay attention
happysalazar (acd614) — 2/18/2013 @ 6:09 pmI wish I could make $344 a week….
Kevin P. (1df29c) — 2/18/2013 @ 7:18 pmSteve57, that quote is from Rep. Salazar of the Colorado House giving us his brilliant thinking of why women should not be allowed to defend themselves with a CCW permit on public university campuses (something currently legal in Colorado – but won’t be in days when the Democrats finish rushing through their gun control agenda).
SPQR (768505) — 2/18/2013 @ 7:21 pmHighpocket – is veterans disability tied to incarceration ?
JD (ad801e) — 2/18/2013 @ 7:52 pm“It is immoral to let a sucker keep his money.”
-Canada Bill Jones, American gambler and Brilliant Philosopher.
PS: American taxpayers are suckers.
Fred Z (80a49d) — 2/18/2013 @ 8:43 pmTheo at #17,
The EEOC may not be invoking the ADA, but they agree in principle.
Obama’s EEOC: We’ll Sue You If You Don’t Hire Criminals
JoeH (942134) — 2/18/2013 @ 8:57 pmI’m fairly certain this is the All Inclusive package at the Club Fed.
scott (b8618e) — 2/19/2013 @ 3:01 amare these people being held before trial? Because if they are, then I’m not sure I see a problem ….
Agreed. The links are confusing about “cons” in “county jails”.
Even so, these “cons” earned their unemployment compensation by having been employed, and they may be housed and fed by the taxpayers now but their families still need food and shelter. (Unemployment compensation is funded by employers’ and employees’ contributions.) And the solution is simple, let them out so they can go back to work and start again paying into the system instead of drawing from it.
nk (53646e) — 2/19/2013 @ 7:18 amnk,
yes, that is exactly my point. If (and I repeat, IF) the people in county jails are not convicted of any crimes yet, then that are entitled to their unemployment compensation … or at least as entitled as anyone else. In general, as I understand it, people are held in jails until trial (if not out on bail) and sent to prisons if convicted … but how precise the story in question is in this point is unclear.
Then there is the question of what they are in jail for. Since I despise the whole War On Drugs, for a large variety of reasons, I am far more likely to be upset that people arrested on drug charges are in jail at all than be outraged that they are getting some kind of benefit while incarcerated.
But that’s another rant entirely.
C. S. P. Schofield (adb9dd) — 2/19/2013 @ 7:48 amJoe, I was going to quote that shameful article too. 🙂
I obviously lived my life wrongly. I should have had some kids out of wedlock, welched on my mortgage, and committed a few felonies.
I applied at a temp agency once and there were about six pages of “privileged” classes listed, and we could check one or more to go to the head of the employment line. Released felon was one of them.
Patricia (be0117) — 2/19/2013 @ 10:16 amSomebody must be impersonating the prisoners at the unemployment office.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/19/2013 @ 10:40 amOr not – are they are legally entitled to it becausde they could be released on bail except they didn’t meet it??
The link does nmot go to any particular story.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 2/19/2013 @ 10:43 amOK, in Pennsylvania, to collect unemployment benefits, after opening a claim you must either call or go online every two weeks to claim your benefits. In that connection, you are asked the questions, “Were you able to work and were you available to work?” Someone in prison would have to commit another felony, by testifying that he was available for work, to receive the unemployment benefits.
This means that one of two things has happened: either the prisoner himself was making this call, or using the internet, every two weeks, and committing said felony, or he had someone on the outside doing so in his name, which would make that person guilty of a felony.
The Dana in Pennsylvania (af9ec3) — 2/19/2013 @ 2:49 pm