------- S.M.Singru
For quite some time, the Home
Office of Britain has been thinking of making prisoners pay for their lodging
and boarding during the prison stay. The case seems to be particularly strong
against white-collar criminals who have made a lot of money anyway. It also
seems to make sense for gangsters who are “taken care” by their dons during the
prison terms as if it was a deputation tenure. “Nowadays, prisoners come in
prison vans, but when they leave, they ride back in limousines”, a prison
official remarked.
Well, at last, the Home Office seems
to be off to a good start. Michael O’Brien served an 11-year jail term for a
murder in Cardiff, which later the police found he had not committed. He has
been released and will be given
£6,90,000 as compensation, but an amount of £37,000 will be recovered
from this for bed and board. O’Brien is livid with anger and snorted, “They
don’t charge guilty people for bed and board, they only charge innocent
people”.
And his frustration showed even better in his
next remark. “I would have ordered caviar and chips if I knew I was going to be
charged ---- it is so absurd.”
Now who says crime does not pay?
Shri S.M.
Singru retired as FA&CAO/Western Railway. He is presently in UK.