Nigel Farage has expressed his surprise that prisoners are being paid twice as much as nurses, police officers, and firefighters.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the increase is justified in light of the current cost of living crisis, ensuring that offenders’ basic needs are met after they are released to reduce recidivism.
“Prisoners are not immune to changes in the cost of living in terms of buying essentials in jail,” a source told The Telegraph.
“There are particular risks if nothing is done in terms of the prison regime and in terms of the need to maintain good relationships.”
“It all makes you begin to wonder, whether those that do wrong in some ways get treated better than those that do their best to obey the law and pay taxes!”
Former prisoner Mark Johnson argued on Farage: “When you look at it, 60 per cent of people over the last two years who have been released, went into unsettled accommodation.”
“1,300 prisoners released in London completely homeless with a tent and a carrier bag. When you look at it that way it’s not a great deal of money actually.”
Currently, prisoners over 18 who have served 14 days or more in custody after being sentenced to prison must receive a subsistence payment.
This month, subsistence payments for prisoners will increase by 8.4 per cent, from £76 to £82.39.
Following a 26-year freeze, this represents an increase over the previous year’s figure of £46.