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07/22/2009: "Foreign prisoners paid £500,000 in compensation for extra detention (UK)"

The convicts were handed the money after being kept in custody beyond the end of their sentence while the authorities considered ejecting them.

Critics claim that as a result many foreign offenders are being let out and simply go on the run - making a mockery of the government's efforts to deport them.

The latest figures, slipped out in a parliament question response on the last day of term, suggest that dozens are also getting cash windfalls.

[ To use the vernacular, this is really "taking the piss". ]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5887331/Foreign-prisoners-paid-500000-in-compensation-for-extra-detention.html