A federal judge says the IRS can't keep withholding coronavirus relief payments from incarcerated people, potentially clearing the way for at least 80,000 checks totaling more than $100 million to be sent to people behind bars across the United States.
The legislation passed in March that authorized the payments of up to $1,200 per person during the pandemic doesn't specifically exclude jail or prison inmates.
Still, that's exactly the claim that the IRS made a couple of weeks after the coronavirus rescue package passed.
Prison officials in Maryland and California are working to notify all lock-up facilities.
Some inmates may be reluctant to apply even if they hear about the ruling in time, Dermody said.