prisoners claiming benefits

[Dee Sa]

has the world gone mad ? I read in todays paper that the Govt has spent over £100 million on unemployment and sick benefits for prisoners !!!! dont worry I dont believe in banging people up unless they are monsters i.e Venables for ever, but surely when you go to prison you loose all rights to benefits until your release , or have got it wrong ?

[al1623]

it depends on length of sentence. i.e if someone has a council house and is sentenced to less than 12 months then the house will be kept on for them.it's to do with problems of re-housing upon release. i think where it becomes coslty is the amount of people in prison and quite alot are short term sentences.

[sara3]

link, please?

[hc4361]

Another non-story from the Daily Mail. Prisoners can earn £2.50 per week by working in prison. If a prisoner is willing to work but there is no job, he or she can claim 'unemployment benefit' of £2.50 per week.
http://www.dailymail....nefits-sit-cells.html

[ayabrea38]

I dont understand why they are allowed to claim,I mean what is the money supposed to be for?Food-no,heating-no,bus fares??

[ummmm]

Fags....

[hc4361]

Toiletries, phone cards, soft loo roll, tobacco, stamps, sweets,

[cherrychapstick]

The benefit works out at £130 a year for each inmate.

Read more: http://www.dailymail....ls.html#ixzz0hdL52n8v

sorry but this is wrong i know mothers with children who get less than this a week it is fluffing shocking

[hc4361]

Those mothers with children won't be paying rent or council tax. Why don't they get a job. or get married before having kids?

[ummmm]

What's getting married got to do with it?

[cherrychapstick]

ermm because they were married before they had children !!

[cherrychapstick]

oh and it is hard to get a job when you have to flee from where you come from and have no support with you children ,what about all the druggies and alkies that don't have jobs ,people should put things into perspective get rid of the druggies and alkies stop giving the extra money to buy what there habit entails and give support to people who would love to have a Fluffing job !!!!!!!

[pink-kittens]

would you rather prisoners sat of their backsides and did nothing to get fags, toiletries, etc? I'd rather see them do menial jobs behind bars and get paid ??? per week than get everything handed out to them

If you read the Daily Mail you are asking for trouble - think of it as a 'I want people to THINK I am intelligent' newspaper but it is just the Sun in a slightly different wrapper

I would also like to know why it's a bad thing that 'some mothers' get less than this? Before they any more of my hard earned cash they can jolly well get of their buttocks and go earn it

[kevgerlan]

Prisoners in altcourse are currently on £21 p/w, and they can buy various things with the money. Even such items as Playstations and such.