Cyprus Prison Inmates Donate To Needy Families Amid Financial Crisis

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — With Cyprus' economy falling apart, even those behind prison bars are pulling together to help people in need.

Dozens of central prison inmates donated around 9,000 euros ($11,649) in cash to a volunteer clinic Saturday in order to help needy families receive free medical attention amid the country's most severe economic crisis in decades.

The inmates, many of them serving long sentences, raised the cash from the 300 euros in pocket money they're allowed to keep for once-weekly purchases at the prison canteen.

Lara Ioannou, 25, whose husband has four years left on a 13-year drug-related sentence, helped hand the money to Eleni Theocharous, a Cypriot European parliament member and pediatric surgeon who also runs the country's first volunteer clinic in the heart of the capital's medieval center.

FULL STORY: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/06/cyprus-inmates-donate-financial-crisis_n_3028308.html