We asked if on September 30, 1998, they had inmates who, through performing (1) work on correctional industry work program contracts that were either in progress or were agreed to but the work had not been started or (2) support work for the industry work program operations, had access to personal information or only names and addresses or telephone numbers; what prison procedures, statutes, regulations, pending legislation, or other guidelines provided guidance on (1) limiting which inmates perform work involving access to personal information and (2) preventing personal information from being retained by inmates or being transferred to unauthorized inmates or other persons; what the total gross income was for the correctional industry work program and the income generated by those contracts that resulted in inmates having access to personal information in the most recently completed fiscal year; and what incidents of misuse occurred as a result of inmates having access to the information through correctional industry work programs. The types of information to which the largest number of inmates had access were (1) names and dates of birth or (2) Social Security numbers. The federal government and seven states in which inmates had access to personal information were identified as having either enacted statutes or had bills pending that related to limiting which inmates could perform work involving personal information. The safeguards most frequently reported as being used when inmates had access to personal information were close supervision; selective hiring (e.g., excluding inmates convicted of sex offenses or fraud); confidentiality agreements; and security checks at the work area exits. Appendix III provides additional information on the safeguards cited by questionnaire respondents. For those states in which inmates had access to personal information, no more than 22 percent of any state’s gross fiscal year 1998 correctional industry income was generated from these contracts; six states reported that less than 1 percent of their gross correctional industry income was earned from these contracts. Extent to Which Inmates Had Access to Only Names and Addresses or Telephone Numbers

About 5,500 inmates, in BOP and 31 state prison systems, had access to only names and addresses or telephone numbers through correctional industry work programs. Over half of these inmates were in the custody of BOP. The most commonly used safeguards reported by states included close supervision while working, security checks at the exits from the work areas, selective hiring, and security checks at the entrances to the work areas. Our draft report said that of approximately 1.2 million inmates, about 1,400 in BOP and 19 state prison systems had access to personal information through correctional industry work programs. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of our study were to determine the extent to which inmates in the BOP and state prison systems had access to personal information through correctional industry work programs; identify prison safeguards and procedures, statutes and regulations, and proposed legislation that addressed correctional industry work programs involving personal information; determine the extent to which contracts that provided inmates access to personal information contributed to BOP’s and states’ correctional industry income; determine the extent to which inmates in the BOP and state prison systems had access to only names and addresses or telephone numbers through correctional industry work programs; and identify incidents of inmates misusing information obtained through a correctional industry work program, including how safeguards failed and what, if any, changes were made as a result of the incidents. Less than $1,000.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the extent to which inmates in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and state prison systems had access to personal information through correctional industry work programs; (2) prison safeguards and procedures, statutes and regulations, and proposed legislation that addressed correctional industry work programs involving personal information; (3) the extent to which contracts that provided inmates access to personal information contributed to BOP's and states' correctional industry income; (4) the extent to which BOP and state prison inmates had access to only names and addresses or telephone numbers through correctional industry work programs; and (5) incidents of inmates misusing information obtained through correctional industry work programs, including how safeguards failed and what, if any, changes were made as a result of the incidents.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) on September 30, 1998, of approximately 1.2 million inmates, about 1,400 in BOP and 19 state prison systems had access to personal information through correctional industry work programs, based on the questionnaire responses from correctional industry officials; (2) of these 1,400 inmates, about 1,100 had access to names and dates of birth or Social Security numbers; (3) these inmates were performing work, such as data entry, for the federal, state, or local governments; (4) BOP and all the 19 states reported using a variety of safeguards to prevent inmates from misusing the information; (5) the safeguards cited by the largest number of states were close supervision, selective hiring (e.g., excluding inmates convicted of sex offenses or fraud), confidentiality agreements, and security checks at the exits from the work areas; (6) the federal government and seven states in which inmates had access to personal information were identified as having either enacted statutes or had bills pending that related to limiting which inmates could perform work involving personal information; (7) less than one-hundredth of 1 percent of BOP's and no more than 22 percent of any state's fiscal year 1998 gross correctional industry income was generated from contracts that resulted in inmates having access to personal information; (8) six states reported that less than 1 percent of their gross correctional industry income was earned from these contracts; (9) about 5,500 inmates in BOP and 31 state prison systems had access to only names and addresses or telephone numbers through correctional industry work program contracts or support work; (10) the three safeguards that the largest number of states and BOP reported using were similar to those used when inmates had access to personal information--close supervision, security checks at the exits from the work areas, and selective hiring; (11) questionnaire respondents described nine incidents in which inmates misused personal information or names and addresses or telephone numbers obtained from correctional industry work programs; (12) in four of the nine incidents, inmates removed information from the work areas, either physically or by memorization; and (13) in five of the incidents, the work programs were discontinued.