GN 02607: Prisoner Provisions
TN 9 (09-07)
A. Procedure - Processing Cases Through PUPS - The Inmate is Released from Custody
When SSA receives information that a beneficiary has not been convicted of a crime or committed by court order and is released from a correctional or mental institution because he/she:
is out on bail/bond;
out on their own recognizance;
is released with no pending further legal actions (no trial pending); or
was confined 30 days or less,
the SSA field office may not need to develop for a future trial date.
See GN 02607.720A.1. for instances where the field office does not have to develop for a future trial date. See GN 02607.720B.2. for instructions on when the field office should develop for a future trial date.
1. FO is not Developing for a Future Trial Date
a. Instances Where the FO Does Not Need to Develop for a Future Trial Date
The field office does not need to develop for a future trial date for the beneficiary when:
the beneficiary will not go to trial for his/her crimes; or
the beneficiary's confinement for his/her crime was 30 days or less in an institution, or
SSA's regional offices/field offices have reporting agreements in place with all correctional institutions in its jurisdiction to always report an inmate's conviction or commitment to SSA in a timely fashion.
NOTE: In those situations where SSA has no knowledge of a future trial for a beneficiary, you will leave the PUPS record closed as NO SUSPENSION and take no further action. If the individual does go to trial in the future, the correctional or mental institution that will retain custody of the individual should report the inmate's confinement once he/she has been convicted of a crime or committed because of a court order.
b. Required Action on PUPS Record
Close the PUPS record "NO SUSPENSION" and post a released date to the PUPS record. Add in the PUPS remarks an explanation as to why the individual was released; i.e., out on bail/bond; not convicted or committed of a crime currently, remained in jail less than 30 continuous days, etc., no trial currently pending.
2. FO Receives Report That Beneficiary Will Go to Trial
SSA will receive reports of a beneficiary's future trial directly from the beneficiary or other first/third party reporters; or, from information they may obtain from the correctional institution. In some instances, many SSA field offices may receive information about the beneficiary's future trial date while they are developing the T2 PUPS record that they received for the non-conviction inmate report. Develop for a future trial date if SSA receives information that the beneficiary will go to trial for his/her criminal offense and the situation does not meet one of the instances listed in GN 02607.720A.1.
See GN 02607.720B. for instructions on developing for a future trial date for a beneficiary when necessary.
B. Procedure - Processing Cases through PUPS Where SSA is Developing for a Future Trial Date
In those situations where SSA receives a report of a pending trial for a beneficiary and you are developing for the future trial date, you will place the case in TRIAL PENDING" status on the PUPS record in order to keep track of the pending trial date for the beneficiary. PUPS provides the capability to temporarily close a PUPS PENDING record while you are awaiting a conviction or commitment decision for a beneficiary from the court. This PUPS functionality will automatically reopen a PUPS PENDING item when the expected trial or commitment date comes due. In addition, the period of time that a case is in "TRIAL PENDING" status will not count against the age of the case. Processing time will start again at “zero days pending” when the case returns to PENDING status following the termination/expiration of "TRIAL PENDING” status.
NOTE: FOs will maintain jurisdiction of all PUPS records awaiting conviction or commitment status. Do not send cases to the PC/OCO-ODO where SSA is waiting for conviction or commitment information. The PC/OCO-ODO should only receive cases from the FO where they have completed case processing and cannot input the suspension transaction using PUPS (PUPS exclusion cases) and the FO attempted to suspend the benefits via PUPS but a processing exception occurred on the record.
C. Procedure - FO Instructions - Beneficiary is not Currently Convicted or not Found NGRI, Incompetent to Stand Trial, or Sexually Dangerous
1. Conviction/Commitment Status Pending - SSA is Developing for Trial Date -
Based on the results of the current development efforts:
If the conviction or commitment status is pending (e.g., charged but not convicted, not confined pending appeal (conviction date has not been posted to the PUPS record yet), confined but awaiting trial, psychological evaluation pending, out on bail, released on own recognizance, etc.), take the following steps:
STATUS OF PUPS RECORD |
STEPS INVOLVED IN PROCESSING TRIAL PENDING ANNOTATION |
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PUPS RECORD is annotated with following key entries: PUPS RECORD STATUS: “PENDING” DATA ENTRIES ON PUPS RECORD: CONVICTION DATE: Blank RELEASED DATE: Blank or Date Entered |
Identify the PUPS record to be updated and update the PUPS record using code "8- TRIAL PENDING" on the PUO2 screen. Complete the "EXPECTED TRIAL DATE" field on the PUPS report. This date should reflect the date the beneficiary will go to trial for his/her crime or the date the court will issue the court order for commitment. See GN 02607.720C.2. for instructions on annotating the correct EXPECTED TRIAL DATE to the PUPS report with a STATUS of TRIAL PENDING. Annotate the REMARKS screen with the jurisdiction where the trial/appeal is pending. NOTE: Do not close the PUPS record as "NO SUSPENSION" and do not post a conviction/commitment date to the PUPS record if the date of conviction or date of the court order for commitment is not known These actions will close the title II PUPS report, if it is PENDING. |
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PUPS RECORD is Annotated with following key entries: PUPS RECORD T2 STATUS: “NO SUSPENSION” DATA ENTRIES ON PUPS RECORD: CONVICTION DATE: Blank RELEASED DATE: Blank or Date Entered |
Identify the PUPS record to be updated and update the PUPS record using code "7" - REOPENING. This will reopen a closed PUPS report. Update the reopened PUPS record with code "8- TRIAL PENDING" on the PUO2 screen. Complete the "EXPECTED TRIAL DATE" field on the PUPS report. This date should reflect the date the beneficiary will go to trial for his/her crime or the date the court will issue the court order for commitment. See GN 02607.720C.2. for instructions on annotating the correct EXPECTED TRIAL DATE to the PUPS report with a STATUS of TRIAL PENDING. Annotate the REMARKS screen with the jurisdiction where the trial/appeal is pending. NOTE: Do not close the PUPS record as "NO SUSPENSION" and do not post a conviction/commitment date to the PUPS record if the date of conviction or date of the court order for commitment is not known This will close the title II PUPS report, if it is PENDING. |
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PUPS RECORD is Annotated with following key entries: PUPS RECORD T2 STATUS: “PENDING” DATA ENTRIES ON PUPS RECORD CONVICTION DATE: Date Entered in MM/DD/YYYY format RELEASED DATE: Blank or Date Entered in MM/DD/YYYY format |
You cannot update a PUPS PENDING record with a TRIAL PENDING date if the PUPS record contains or had contained a conviction date. If an input is done and the PUPS record has or had a conviction date posted to the record, either currently or in the past, the following error message will appear at the bottom of the screen, INVALID TYPE OF ACTION-CONVICTION DATE PRESENT. (This alert will be created even if a prior conviction date was deleted. This is because PUPS keeps an ongoing history record of all transactions done for a particular confinement event.) When this situation is encountered, close the Title II PUPS PENDING record as a “NO SUSPENSION”. Continue processing the new PUPS record as indicated in the last block in the chart located in GN 02607.720C.1. |
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PUPS RECORD is Annotated with following key entries: PUPS RECORD T2 STATUS: “NO SUSPENSION” DATA ENTRIES ON PUPS RECORD CONVICTION DATE: Date Entered in MM/DD/YYYY format RELEASED DATE: Blank or Date Entered in MM/DD/YYYY format |
You cannot update a PUPS record with a TRIAL PENDING" date if the PUPS record was closed as “NO SUSPENSION” and the record contains a conviction date. Leave this PUPS record alone and create a new PUPS record. Establish a new PUPS record with the same inmate information on the prior PUPS record that was closed as NO SUSPENSION with the conviction date, except for the date of confinement. The date of confinement on the new PUPS record must equal: Day of confinement from the prior PUPS record + 1 day. NOTE (1) There is a PUPS edit that does not allow you to establish a new PUPS record with the same day of confinement that already exists on PUPS. Increase the day of confinement by 1 day to allow PUPS to establish the new PUPS record. NOTE (2): Do not add the date of conviction date to the new PUPS record. Update the PUPS record using code "8- TRIAL PENDING" on the PUO2 screen. This will close the title II PUPS report. Complete the "EXPECTED TRIAL DATE" field on the PUPS report. This date should reflect the date the beneficiary will go to trial for his/her crime or the date the court will issue the court order for commitment. See GN 02607.720C.2. for instructions on annotating the correct EXPECTED TRIAL DATE to the PUPS report with a STATUS of TRIAL PENDING. Annotate the REMARKS screen with the jurisdiction where the trial/appeal is pending. |
When the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE is reached, PUPS changes the record back to a PENDING record. (When the case reverts to a PUPS PENDING record it will start with zero days in pending status.)
PUPS will not generate a new paper alert when the status is changed from TRIAL PENDING to PENDING. Instead the PENDING SSN will appear on the FO PTMI pending list.
NOTE: If you cannot obtain a trial date, process per GN 02607.720C.2.
2. EXPECTED TRIAL DATE Entries
Develop to obtain the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry as shown below:
Contact the beneficiary or representative payee source to obtain the expected trial date for the beneficiary or the date the court will issue the order of commitment. Post the date the beneficiary or representative payee provides to SSA as the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry on the PUPS record. Add REMARKS to the PUPS record to explain where the information came from and why you are posting this date to the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry to the PUPS record.
If the beneficiary or representative payee cannot provide the expected trial date or the expected commitment date, develop to the third party sources as listed in GN 02607.680. Post the date the third party source provides to SSA as the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry on the PUPS record.
If the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE matures and PUPS has changed the record back to pending, determine if the beneficiary actually went to court on the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE. If he/she did not, obtain a new court date for the beneficiary and enter this date as the new EXPECTED TRIAL DATE.
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If you cannot obtain a new court date, add 60 days to the current date and enter this date in the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE field. Add REMARKS to the PUPS record to explain that you are posting the fictitious EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry to the PUPS record.
NOTE: If SSA learns of the beneficiary's conviction date or court order of commitment date before the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE diary is scheduled to mature, suspend benefits per GN 02607.730B.
If you still cannot obtain an approximate court date from the beneficiary, representative payee or third party sources after the diary matures, add 60 more days to the current date. Post this date as the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry on the PUPS record. Add additional REMARKS to the existing REMARKS on the PUPS record to explain that you are still waiting a conviction/commitment date. (Keep a running chronological history of your attempts to obtain an expected conviction/commitment date in the PUPS PMRK screen.) You will continue repeating this diary action until you finally receive an accurate EXPECTED TRIAL DATE.
3. SSA Receives Information on Beneficiary's Conviction or Commitment - EXPECTED TRIAL DATE - Diary Not Matured
After the beneficiary goes to court and a decision is made about his case, obtain the conviction/commitment date and post it to the PUPS TRIAL PENDING record using TYPE OF ACTION of 7 REOPENING. The PUPS system will reopen the PUPS record to a PENDING. Process the suspension per GN 02607.730.
D. Procedure - Diary for EXPECTED TRIAL DATE Matures
1. Conviction/Commitment Status not Known
The day following the expiration of the expected trial date the status of the PUPS record is changed back to PENDING and the EXPECTED TRIAL DATE entry is removed from the PUPS record. A new PUPS alert is not generated for this PUPS record but the SSN will appear on the PTMI pending listing.
If the beneficiary has not been convicted or the court has not issued an order of commitment at this time, repeat the process in GN 02607.720C.2.
2. Court Issues Conviction or Order of Commitment
Process as indicated in GN 02607.730B. when you learn that the court has convicted or committed the beneficiary.
Process as indicated in GN 02607.730C. if the beneficiary is not confined after the conviction or order of commitment; e.g., the beneficiary is given time already served on his/her sentence; the beneficiary is sentenced to 30 days or less of confinement after conviction/commitment, etc.