PRI awarded grant by MacArthur Foundation to improve protection of the rights of suspects and defendants

PRI is delighted to have been awarded a three-year grant of US $ 300,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (‘the MacArthur Foundation’) in support of PRI’s project to advance criminal justice reform in Russia.

Over the 36 month project duration (from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2017), PRI will strengthen the capacity of  civil society organisations, particularly Public Oversight Commissions (POCs), to act as watchdogs for the treatment of prisoners and conditions in pre-trial detention.

PRI will also increase the availability of evidence based information for relevant state bodies, media and the wider public on the situation in places of deprivation of liberty and in the criminal justice system in general. The information will be used by PRI to explore together with key criminal justice system stakeholders improvements to the policy framework for  monitoring of places of deprivation of liberty.

The project will be implemented by PRI’s Moscow office, with oversight provided by PRI London.

PRI’s Moscow has had an active agreement with the Federal Service of Execution of Punishments of Russia (FSIN) since 2006, and has been working on projects relating to prison improvements, better treatment of prisoners and promoting alternatives to imprisonment for many years. Find out more about our work in Russia.