AUBURN, Maine - Maine county jail administrators say they're confiscating cards from inmates that are used to distribute welfare benefits.
The Sun Journal reported last year that dozens of people at Androscoggin County Jail had Electronic Benefit Transfer cards issued under someone else's name between November 2013 and April 2014.
State officials wrote a letter in November urging Maine's U.S. Congressional delegation to support a federal law change making EBT cards more secure.
Jail officials tell the newspaper that corrections officers send about three to four EBT cards back to the state each week.
The jail has also modified an ATM so that EBT cards could not be used to withdraw cash for bail money. Law enforcement officers say the cards are also frequently sold or bartered to buy drugs.
