• Flax
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    764 months ago

    There was a weird thing in England that if you were found not guilty and released from prison, you’d have to pay the prison boarding costs because you had no right to be there in the first place

    • @[email protected]
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      4 months ago

      If I saw an article with the title

      UK man has $80,000 room and board bill from prison after being found not guilty of murder.

      I’d be looking to see if it was from the onion.

        • @[email protected]
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          144 months ago

          Holy shit.

          He explained that his compensation was also calculated on the assumption that he would never have worked and would have received benefits.

          Fucking monsters.

      • @[email protected]
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        44 months ago

        Probably to regain the lost funds into the imprisonment fund from the compensation fund for wrongful imprisonment. Might be more of a dumb than an evil thing.

        • @[email protected]
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          4 months ago

          No, it’s evil.

          Another person replied with a real story where it happened. They also did this to the guy wrongfully imprisoned 25 years

          He explained that his compensation was also calculated on the assumption that he would never have worked and would have received benefits.

          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy31pk1w0lo

          Edit: And I could see maybe its hard to assume he’d become a lawyer or Dr with high wages, but no job with only benefits, and then room and board subtracted? Savage.

    • XIIIesq
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      174 months ago

      I’ve lived in the UK my whole life and I’ve never heard of this. I’m going to have to ask for a source because it really does sound like an urban myth.

    • Random Dent
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      124 months ago

      The US does this too!

      Washington may be the most expensive state to be behind bars, as it charges up to $100 per day just for room and board, according to Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior counsel at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. Maine, which charges around $80 per day, may be the second most expensive, she added, but it’s not clear because many states don’t report the exact amounts. “Most states don’t provide the exact amount; they call for ‘full cost of incarceration’ or ‘a reasonable amount,'” Eisen told Truthdig. “In reality, these states which don’t provide real numbers may demand the steepest already very difficult for people with a criminal record to get a job, even if they committed a nonviolent crime, so steep fees can add to their struggles,” she said.

      • Flax
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        24 months ago

        It’s ridiculous. I’d say you should be the one paid compensation (although I think it is usually deducted from compensation you are awarded by the court anyway, but still ridiculous that they have the audacity)

      • @[email protected]
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        34 months ago

        Also the idea that we as the taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for incarceration is ridiculous. We need to bear these costs to ensure we’re incentivized to minimize overincarceration

    • @[email protected]
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      224 months ago

      Same thing for Germany.

      Someone is currently suing the Bavarian government for 750,000€ for 13 years of wrong imprisonment (he only received 400,000€ in damages, or 75€ per day).

      Now the government is demanding 100,000€ back - 50,000€ for food and accomodation and 50,000€ for the total wage he received from mandatory prison labor.

      • Flax
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        94 months ago

        They’re suing his WAGE back for work he still did???

        • @[email protected]
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          44 months ago

          It’s not like he had any rights to do his mandatory 2€-per-hour job. Completely understandable /s