Even the most liberal of readers will doubtless be shaking their heads at the news that prisoners at Armley jail have been given a whopping £140,000 in compensation... for being forced to give up drugs while on the inside.

Decent, law-abiding citizens will be wondering if the old adage that crime doesn't pay actually has any truth at all these days.

If the cycle that begins with drug addiction, leading to crime to pay for the drugs and inevitably jail, then ends with a handsome payout for having to go "cold turkey" without the drugs while serving a sentence, the question of whether justice really is being served must be asked.

There are, of course, many reasons why people fall into the downward spiral of drug abuse, and it is right and proper that resources should be targeted at tackling these problems.

To simply wait until these addicts embark upon a life of crime to feed their habit and then throw money at them when they are in jail in the form of compensation is sheer madness.

The national figure of £2.5 million paid out in such compensation by the prison service would surely be gratefully received by some or other drugs charity which is working to break the cycle of addiction at its roots.

These payouts are not just insulting to everyone else struggling to make ends meet, but are akin to shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted... then giving compensation to the careless farmer who left the door open for the loss of his animal.