How do I get a replacement card while I am incarcerated?

The steps for requesting a replacement card while you are incarcerated is fairly straightforward. However, due to conflicting rules and practices within the Social Security Administration (SSA), it’s hard to say whether your request will succeed. You should try anyway. Here are key factors that may affect your chances of success:

    The facility you are in: Where you are incarcerated may affect your ability to get a Social Security card while you are incarcerated.
    MOUs: According to the SSA’s official policy, before the SSA will accept “certification” (proof) of your identity from a correctional facility, that facility must enter a special agreement with the SSA called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU’s purpose is to ensure that corrections officials follow the same rules as SSA officials do when verifying people’s identities. If your facility has a MOU with the SSA, the SSA will accept the facility’s certification of your identity as proof that you are who you say you are. However, if your facility does not have a MOU with the SSA, the SSA Field Office reviewer that evaluates your application can choose to deny a certification from the facility as definitive proof of your identity. In other words, your facility’s certification carries less weight without an MOU with the SSA, and your application for a replacement Social Security card is more likely to get denied.
    Your local Field Office and application reviewer: The practices of your local Field Office in reviewing applications from incarcerated people will affect your ability to get a Social Security Card while you are incarcerated.
    If your facility does not have a MOU with the SSA, the local Field Office should still evaluate your application as it would any other application.[47] This means that your reviewer can consider your correctional facility’s certification, even if he or she can’t rely on it 100%. How much weight your reviewer gives to the certification will depend on that particular Field Office’s practices. Some Field Offices accept certifications without a hassle; others do not. It’s always worth a try!
  1. 47

    Soc. Sec. Admin., Program Operations Manual System, RM 10225.145 Processing SS-5 (Social Security Card Application for Prisoners Under Terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (March 3, 2011). ↑