Some 700 000 American Veterans are incarcerated in jails or prisons.\u00a0 Many of them are there because of PTSD and substance abuse.\u00a0 When a vet is found guilty of a crime and sentenced to a penal system, some of the benefits get adjusted.\u00a0 However, according a Watchdog report found that more than $100 million has been overpaid by the VA since 2008,\u00a0 because the agency failed to reduce American Veterans Benefits for incarcerated Vets.<\/p>\n
Federal law states that The Department of Veterans Affairs is required to adjust payments to incarcerated veterans. But it turns out that in more than 50% of cases, the VA has neglected to properly reduce benefit payments to vets in federal penitentiaries, improperly paying millions in benefits, according to the department\u2019s Office of Inspector General.<\/p>\n
Nearly $60 million in over payments was made to federal inmates, and $44 million was made improperly to inmates of state and local penitentiaries. The department has been focused for years on certain types of benefits processing, according to a statement, including first-time claims for benefits that have long been scrutinized by lawmakers and the public because of lengthy backlogs and long wait times.<\/p>\n
Inspectors said the VA didn\u2019t prioritize processing what are referred to as \u201cincarceration adjustments\u201d because the department had focused the bulk of its efforts elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general, Veterans Benefits Administration did not place priority on processing incarceration adjustments because they did not consider these non-rating claims to be part of the disability claims backlog,\u201d the inspector general said in the report, adding that there was a lapse of almost seven years during which the VA didn\u2019t obtain incarceration data from the Bureau of Prisons.<\/p>\n
American Veterans benefits is a sensitive topic.\u00a0 Wasting money that could be spent on other veterans needs should be looked into.<\/p>\n
In an official response, the VA said it would review data on federal incarcerations dating back to 2008 and try to recover improper payments and would focus more in the future on incarceration adjustments.\u00a0 \u201cThe Veterans Benefits Administration agrees with findings and recommendations of the Office of Inspector General concerning the need to improve the current process for adjusting compensation and pension payments to Veterans incarcerated due to felony convictions,\u201d said a VA statement.<\/p>\n
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