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.