Can I apply for SSI while incarcerated?

Yes! You can’t receive SSI benefits while incarcerated[1751]—but if you haven’t applied for SSI before, and you think you may qualify, you can start the application process as early as 90 days before your release date. Keep in mind that review of an SSI application can take 3-5 months.[1752]

Some prisons and jails have a pre-release agreement with local Social Security offices.

    If your facility has a pre-release agreement: Speak to correctional staff. They may be available to help you complete and submit your SSI application before your release.
    Correctional staff should also notify the Social Security office about your release date.
    Ideally, if a pre-release agreement is in place, staff should start working with you several months before your release, and the Social Security office should then process your application promptly so that your benefits will start shortly after you get out.
    If your facility doesn’t offer pre-release assistance—and/or you have trouble working with correctional staff: Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY: 1-800-325-0778) to have application materials mailed to you and get help with them. Be prepared to give your release date.
    If Social Security’s automated phone system doesn’t accept your call, you should ask a non-incarcerated family member to call as an Authorized Representative (“AR”) on your behalf (use the form in Appendix G, PG. 523 to appoint a family member as an AR).
    An SSA representative will set a post-release appointment for you at a local Social Security office, ask you to bring your official release documents, and tell you what else you need to do.[1753]
  1. 1751

    20 C.F.R. § 404.468(a). ↑

  2. 1752

    Finding the Key to Successful Transition from Jail or Prison to the Community, Bazelon Center (2009), http://www.bazelon.org/News-Publications/Publications/List/1/CategoryID/7/Level/a/ProductID/17.aspx?
    SortField=ProductNumber%2CProductNumber     ↑

  3. 1753

    Benefits Available to Paroling & Discharging Inmates, Prison Law Office (2011), http://www.prisonlaw.com/pdfs/BenefitsLetter,Aug2011.pdf; What Prisoners Need to Know, Soc. Sec. Admin. http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10133.pdf; Entering the Community After Incarceration—How We Can Help, Soc. Sec. Admin, http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10504.pdf; Arrested? What Happens to Your Benefits?, Bazelon Center, http://www.kitsaPGov.com/pubdef/Forms/LinkClick.Benefits.pdf ↑