Six people have been arrested and charged in a tax refund checkfraud conspiracy that dates back five years and involves an Alabamaprison inmate, credit union and bank.

Shermaine “Shade” German, 56, orchestrated the fraudulent schemefrom Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Ala., where heobtained the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers ofother people, often fellow inmates, including some on death row orserving life sentences without parole, according to the FBI.

He used their information to create false income tax returnsthat contained fabricated amounts of tax withholdings, said federalauthorities in nearby Birmingham and netted more than $12,000.