IRS gives over $1 billion in COVID-19 stimulus checks to prisoners: report

The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly given over $1 billion in COVID-19 stimulus checks to more than 1.1 million people in state and federal prisons.

About 163,000 check recipients are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to a letter from the IRS to GOP Rep. Don Bacon, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.

"The American Rescue Plan was reckless in the amount of massive spending with no off-sets," the Nebraska lawmaker said. "Giving stimulus checks to death row inmates is a glaring example. This bill triggered the worst inflation in 41 years, costing the average family $500 a month. The poor suffer the most."

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said those who are incarcerated are still eligible to apply for COVID stimulus checks, the Free Beacon also reports.

Congress passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March 2021 with no Republican support.

The Free Beacon report follows a probe in March that discovered the IRS sent $64 million to dead people. The rescue spending bill has come under scrutiny as an estimated $80 billion has been wasted on pandemic unemployment payment fraud.