Prisoners in Florida, Georgia and California lead the nation's inmate population in scamming payments from an unlikely benefactor: the IRS.
Seemingly proving the adage that crime pays, even behind bars, prisoners in the three states received nearly $19 million in IRS refunds during 2009 after filing false or fraudulent tax returns, according to an IRS report to Congress that was included in a federal audit released in January.
The haul was part of $39.1 million in undeserved federal tax refunds the IRS issued to jail and prison inmates nationwide for phantom jobs on phony returns, the data shows. That's nearly triple the $13.4 million annual in tax refunds the IRS reported it issued to prison scammers just five years earlier.
Here are the Stats from TN Prisons.
Facility name and number of fraudulent returns:
Tennessee Tn - Wayne County Boot Camp 5
Tennessee Tn - Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex 34
Tennessee Tn - Mark H. Luttrell Correctional Center 40
Tennessee Tn - Charles B. Bass Correctional Complex 46
Tennessee Tn - Lois M. Deberry Special Needs Facility 49
Tennessee Tn - Tennessee Prison For Women 51
Tennessee Tn - Southeastern Tenn St Regional Corr F 63
Tennessee Tn - Riverbend Maximum Security Institution 73
Tennessee Tn - Morgan County Correctional Complex 80
Tennessee Tn - Turney Center Industrial Prison 90
Tennessee Tn - Whiteville Correctional Facility 117
Tennessee Tn - West Tennessee State Penitentiary 215
Tennessee Tn - Hardeman County Correctional Facility 295
Tennessee Tn - Northwest Correctional Complex 354
Tennessee Tn - Northeast Correctional Complex 433
Tennessee Tn - South Central Correctional Facility 487
