SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's system for paying unemployment benefits is so dysfunctional that the state approved more than $140 million for at least 35,000 prisoners, prosecutors said Tuesday, detailing a scheme that resulted in payouts in the names of well-known convicted murderers like Scott Peterson and Cary Stayner.

In some cases, inmates used their real names. In others, they used fake names and even fake Social Security numbers. In one instance, an inmate used the name: “poopy britches,” Schubert said.