Istuit vankilassa 25 vuotta, syyttömänä? Se maksaa sitten £80,000

Jos joudut istumaan syyttömänä vankilassa parhaat vuotesi, niin mitä odottaisit vihdoin vapauduttuasi? Anteeksipyynnön ehkä?

Jos Britannian sisäministeri David Blunkett saa tahtons? läpi, niin Britanniassa sinua odottaisi iso lasku (reilut £3000/istuttu vuosi) valtion ylläpidosta vankilavuosiltasi!

Blunkett's fight has been described as "outrageous", "morally repugnant" and the "sickest of sick jokes", but his spokesmen in the Home Office say it's a completely "reasonable course of action" as the innocent men and women would have spent the money anyway on food and lodgings if they weren't in prison. The government deems the claw-back "Saved Living Expenses".

Itse asiassa laskuja on jo lähettety ex-vangeille. Paddy Hill istui 16 vuotta syyttömänä Birminghamin pommi iskusta, ja on saanut Sisäministeriöstä £50 000 laskun.

Joku lukijoista saattaa muistaakin, että Paddy Hill ja muut "Birminghamin Kuusikosta" tuomittiin poliisin väärentämien todisteiden avulla...

"The whole system is absurd," Hill said. "I'm so angry about what has happened to me. I try and tell people about being charged for bed and board in jail and they can?t believe it.

"When I left prison I was given no training for freedom, no counselling or psychological preparation. Yet the guilty get that when they are released. To charge me for the food I ate and the cell I slept in is almost as big an injustice as fitting me up in the first place.

"While I was in prison, my family lost their home, yet they get no compensation. But the state wants its money back. It's like being kicked in the head when someone has beat you already.

"I have to put up with this, yet there has not been one police officer convicted of fitting people up. The Home Office had no shortage of money to keep me in jail or to run a charade of a trial."