The Mississippi Department of Human Services began releasing the remaining full November SNAP benefits on Friday morning after resolving technical issues that prevented it from doing so when the government shutdown ended.

“Clients can expect their benefit balance to be available as soon as today,” MDHS said in a Nov. 21 statement. “SNAP clients are encouraged to check their account balance to confirm receipt of benefits.”

Decades-Old Computer Systems Caused Further Delays

MDHS had sought to ensure the roughly 353,000 Mississippians who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to afford food received their full payments “as soon as possible” after the shutdown ended on Nov. 12. Many patients had already received 65% of their payments, which is all the federal government authorized during the shutdown.

But MDHS Chief Communications Officer Mark Jones told the Mississippi Free Press on Thursday that when the agency attempted to push out full payments earlier this week, “they weren’t sending … because we had already put 65% in there.”

“It’s our systems. We have 35 and 40-year-old systems that run COBOL,” he said on Thursday, referring to a programming language that dates back to the 1960s.

At the time, Jones said he was not sure whether or not SNAP recipients would receive their full payments by the end of the month. But today, Mississippians began receiving their full payments. MDHS says that full December benefits will be released as scheduled with no delays.

MDHS announced in May that the agency is working on a $180 million upgrade to its systems to replace the aged technology, but Jones told the Mississippi Free Press that “that’s not going to be fully done until 2027.”

MDHS Warns of SNAP Theft Dangers

As full SNAP benefits resume, MDHS is warning of an increasing potential for fraud and theft of SNAP benefits. MDHS can no longer replace stolen SNAP benefits after Congress last year allowed a program to expire that replaced SNAP benefits stolen by card skimming, card cloning and other forms of fraud.

MDHS advises recipients to do the following:

  • Register for a Connect EBT account and save Connect EBT to their cell phone home screen and change their PIN after every use to reduce their risk of fraud and skimming. (See TUTORIAL)
  • Monitor all account transactions and report any suspicious activity to MDHS at this link. 
  • Ensure all case information is current to avoid interruptions in benefits.
  • Follow MDHS social media channels for the latest updates on additional benefit funding and program announcements.

More information is available at www.mdhs.ms.gov.

The Mississippi Free Press has published this list of resources, including food banks, for those who need help.

Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.