Brickbat: Adding Insult to Injury

Andy Malkinson spent 17 years in a British prison for rape before DNA evidence connected another man to the crime and a court freed Malkinson. But under British law, Malkinson would have to pay the government for housing and feeding him for 17 years. Under the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995, prisoners who are freed after being found to have been wrongfully convicted have to pay back such costs from any compensation they receive. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk later announced that the rule would be scrapped but would not commit to reimbursing any previous wrongfully-convicted Brits whose compensations had been reduced.

Comments

[Adans smith]

The Crown giveth, the Crown taketh away.

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[Michael Ejercito]

But all these feminist groups told us that false rape accusations were no problem.

How could they be lying?

[flag58]

No one is claiming the rape did not occur.
The wrong man was convicted.

[Bloodaxe]

If you accuse the wrong person of a crime, even if the crime did happen, that is a false accusation.

[Wizard4169]

The linked story doesn't mention exactly what evidence was the basis for his conviction. If it was testimony by the victim, well, eye-witness testimony is notoriously unreliable. It can be even less reliable coming from the victim of a traumatic crime who desperately wants their attacker locked up. Also, once police find a suspect, it's hardly unknown for them to influence witnesses either deliberately or accidentally. Memory is a fallible, malleable thing. Without knowing a lot more details about the case, I'm very hesitant to cry false accusation.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Well, it's no problem for them.

[Jerryskids]

So how does this affect the rent I charge the orphans I keep chained in my basement?

[Fist of Etiquette]

No free lunches, criminals.

[flag58]

If it is determined a person was not guilty they have to pay for being in prison but the people who are guilty don't?
Sounds backwards to me.

[Will Nonya]

Seems very Brittish to me.

[Wizard4169]

According to the article, the payment would come out of whatever compensation the government pays him for the wrongful imprisonment. So, basically they're trying to claw back some of whatever penalty they have to pay him. If you want to argue that locking a guy up for a crime he didn't do, more than doubling his sentence for having the audacity to say he didn't do it, and then expecting him to pay for the privilege of being wrongfully imprisoned is bullshit on top of bullshit, all I can do is agree.

[Mickey Rat]

So presumably a guilty person who is imprisoned does not have to pay for being an involuntary guest of the state, but a person who is determined to have been wrongfully convicted does?

How does that even get into law?

[Will Nonya]

The law is intended to disduade people from challenging their convictions. If you make the state look bad you have to pay. That is how it becomes law.

[Wizard4169]

Yep, just like the way they more than doubled his original sentence for having the audacity to maintain his innocence.

[mad.casual]

Are the people inflicting British prison food on others not guilty?

[Roberta]

Are the people inflicting British prison food on others not guilty?

More apt question.

[John F. Carr]

A prisoner in Connecticut won a lawsuit for abuse suffered while in prison. The state tried to withhold payment because it was offset by the cost of holding him in prison. If it costs $30,000 per year to house a prisoner then guards are entitled to inflict $30,000 of bodily injury per year in lieu of rent. Like an old fashioned loan shark. Federal judges were skeptical of this policy. I don't know if they guy ever got his money.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

And if they don't pay, it's right back in with them!

[The Margrave of Azilia]

You laugh, but non-convicted people used to be charged jail fees, and kept locked up until they paid.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

"But under British law, Malkinson would have to pay the government for housing and feeding him for 17 years. "

This is a Monty Python sketch, right?

[Dillinger]

Fawlty Towers.

[markm23]

Or are those shows actually documentaries?