Summary: As of September 1998, about 1,400 inmates in federal and state prisons--out of a population of 1.2 million inmates--had access to personal information through prison work programs, according to prison industry officials. About 1,100 inmates had access to names and dates of birth or Social Security numbers. These inmates were doing work, such as data entry, for the federal, state, or local governments. The Bureau of Prisons and all of the 19 states responding to GAO's survey reported using various safeguards to prevent inmates from misusing the information. The safeguards range from close supervision to selective hiring to security checks at the exits from the work areas. Questionnaire respondents described nine incidents in which inmates misused personal information or names and addresses or telephone numbers obtained through prison work programs. In four of the incidents, inmates either physically removed information from the work areas or memorized material. In five of the incidents, the work programs were discontinued.
