nted excuse leads to loss of Public Assistance, Food Stamps and Medicaid.90 Additionally, a graduated series of sanctions that require waiting periods of up to 180 days before the former recipient may reapply are imposed as penalties for failure to comply with WEP requirements. Therefore, as a result of these policies, a person with a mental illness who is arrested for a misdemeanor, such as jumping a subway turnstile, and spends a day or two in the system prior to arraignment can lose his benefits, insurance, access to mental health treatment and housing. People incarcerated for months or years always lose their benefits, and they cannot reapply for benefits prior to release. On the outside, the application process is bewildering even for people who are not dealing with mental illness and the upheaval of having recently left jail or prison. For example, to apply for Public Assistance, Food Stamps and Medicaid, an applicant must first figure out which Income Support Center to go to. The closest Income Support Center is not necessarily the right one; Income Support Centers are down-sizing and merging, and Income Support Centers' overworked staff sometimes tell new applicants that the Center is not taking any more applications. Once the appropriate center is located, the applicant must arrive before 9 a.m., complete a complicated application form, present identification and documentation of rent expenses and/or lack of cooking facilities, and be interviewed by a caseworker. The applicant will then be directed to the Eligibility Verification Review office in Brooklyn Heights for a painstaking interview intended to detect fraud. Then, Eligibility Verification Review will send the Front End Detection System workers, who carry badges and announce themselves as "the FEDS,"91 to visit the applicant's house and verify residence. If, after three visits, the FEDS have not found the applicant at home, the case will be closed. Under the new welfare-...
