Daily Star - Charbel to tackle prison overcrowding, April 04, 2012

BEIRUT: Following several visits to the Roumieh prison complex, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel launched a humanitarian initiative to ease the suffering of prisoners and improve the overcrowding situation in prisons across Lebanon by offering financial support to inmates who have served their sentences, the Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

Charbel’s initiative evolved into a humanitarian organization – Yes to Life – which has attracted a number of donors from various sects who wish to contribute to building an apolitical approach to prison conditions, away from private interests.

As part of the initiative, Charbel announced that donors would offer LL100 million to pay off the fines of 24 inmates who have served their sentences, but remain in jail.

At Charbel’s request, his adviser, Talal el-Makdessi, met Tuesday with the head of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and offered to pay the expenses of travel tickets for foreigners who have served their sentences in General Security’s police center but cannot afford to pay for their tickets back home.


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