THE CRADLE OF COMMON LAW: When suspects are convicted of a crime and, after years in prison, are proven to be innocent, how does society repay them for their incarceration? The U.K.’s Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has an idea of what to do: charge the former prisoners for food and board — at least 3,000 pounds (US$5,430) per year for the prisoners’ “saved living expenses” during their time in stir. A spokesman for the Home Office said the concept “takes into account the range of costs the prisoner might have incurred had they not been imprisoned,” adding “Morally, this is reasonable and appropriate.” It’s not a proposal: the government has already sent bills to some freed prisoners. A spokesman for the Scottish Miscarriage of Justice Organisation called the program a way to “punish people for having the audacity to be innocent.” (Glasgow Sunday Herald) …And the world thinks America is contemptible?

(a mail to this-is-true gets you more of this type stuff)