The Ohio Prisons System announced that it has “accidentally released about 2,000 prisoners’ Social Security numbers,” as part of a records request made by a convicted identity thief.

The information was included on a list of inmates at Chillicothe Correctional Institution provided to an ex-offender who regularly requests inmate rosters.

The Mansfield News Journal reports 43-year-old Lonny Bristow turned the information over to the newspaper, a day after receiving the records.

Bristow’s past convictions include credit card scams, some of them committed while he was already in prison serving previous sentences. 

Bristow says that it’s “ironic” that the prisons system turned the information over to him but that he didn’t plan to use it, because he has “reformed, and his criminal life is over.” That begs the question: why ask for it in the first place?

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says that the Ohio prisons system is looking into identity theft monitoring services for the affected inmates – just in case. Who thinks that will be a great use of taxpayer money?