Labour pressured to pay back prison bed and board for those wrongly jailed

Cabinet is setting up greater pressure to refund prison “bed and board” charges of persons convicted for historical miscarriages of justice. 
 
The Government has pointed out people who were incarcerated unfairly will not be repaid rent and food expenses for the time spent behind bars. 
 
However, one former Tory justice secretary, Sir Robert Buckland has called on the government to change its mind over the cited provision, on account of what he said were special circumstances. 
 
To set up the enormity of this betrayal, last year Alex Chalk,the former Conservative Lord Chancellor and in particular whippet, ensured the policy of wrongfully convicted prisoners having to pay for their bed and board out of their compensation upon release was abolished. 
 
It described a case of Andrew Malkinson who was jailed for 17 years for a rape offense he did not commit. Many employees have faced the same fate as Mr Malkinson who was formally acquitted by the Court of Appeal in July last year, but compensation has not been paid to him. 
 
However, under the current rules, only those prisoners, who, under the circumstances of their serving the sentence, were not granted a payout, are to be reimbursed for the expenses on bed and board, and those prisoners, who have already received compensation, cannot be reimbursed. 
 
Said Sir Robert to Today on BBC Radio 4: “That’s the idea behind non-retrospectivity, the idea that doing something to a person is wrong if it puts him in some sort of disadvantage. I believe this is the completely opposite with referential to the wrongly convicted people. 
 
“They have already been put to the loss due to what has happened to them and by not applying it retrospectively they are bestowed further harm. ” 
 
Sir Robert added: Indeed, this is my feeling: the Government also needs to review the general utilization of this rule. 

“But I do believe that in this case we do need them to challenge that orthodoxy and to remind civil servants that having regard to the fact that retrospection is not cast iron and can be dis-applied. 
 
Non-retrospectivity implies that a person could not be charged with an offense committed during the time when the prohibition of such action was not enacted. 
 
The use of the rules has been brought again into focus some days after we met the elaborate case of Paul Blackburn who served 25 years in prison for attempted murder of another boy when he was 15, only for him to be set free when it was realized he was wrongfully accused. 
 
Though the Court of Appeal ruled that police fabricated evidence, £100,000 was taken from Mr Blackburn’s compensation payout to reclaim rooms he should have rented and meals he should have bought had he been a free man. 
 
‘Morally wrong’ 
 
It is reported that the Government has written to Mr Blackburn’s solicitors stating that these changes in policy are not reviews of the previous policy and do not impact on that policy. 
 
Mr Blackburn has deemed the decision as being “morally wrong” and added that his solicitors might be initiating a legal action as reported by BBC. 
 
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: Pensioners have been informed that the Money Paid after 6 Aug 2023 as part of the miscarriage of justice scheme will not have Savings in respect of Living Expenses Deducted. 
 
“However, which is the rule when it comes to transition regarding shifts in government policy, the change that was made here the previous year does not extend back to the previous year.