Can the poor be punished for stealing out of poverty?

In the Rule of Law section of this Wikipedia article , the following is asserted: > Various Islamic lawyers do, however, place multiple conditions, and stipulations—e.g., the poor cannot be penalised for stealing out of poverty—before executing such a law, making it very difficult to reach such a stage. It is well known that, during a time of drought during the Rashidun caliphate, capital punishments were suspended until the effects of the drought passed. Is this a mainstream Islamic position? Which Islamic countries practiced this and when?