EWMI NEWS:
FEBRUARY 2009
EWMI AWARDS GRANT TO SUPPORT ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN LIBERIA

The East-West Management Institute, through a direct grant to the Liberian NGO “Prison Fellowship Liberia” (PFL), is seeking to lower the population of those unlawfully detained in Liberia’s overcrowded prisons. Many detainees have been arrested, but never tried, for minor offenses. These individuals are confined for periods that would exceed any time that they could legally be sentenced to if they were tried, but they cannot afford to hire their own lawyers to advocate on their behalf. EWMI, through PFL, is training lawyers and paralegals on this issue, and paying for them to travel to prisons to work with officials to identify those detainees who should be released, and to facilitate reconciliation with their accusers. As a result of this program, EWMI is bringing representation and justice to those who would not otherwise afford it, helping to decrease the country’s prison population, and promoting reconciliation among the citizens of a splintered society.