Wayne State University Law School's clinical program has received a $62,500 grant from the Michigan Supreme Court State Court Administrative Office to implement a Prisoner Support Adjustment Project. The project seeks to provide legal representation, through the Law School Clinic, to prisoners in qualifying cases in the Wayne County Circuit Court system who seek orders of adjustment of child support obligations.

The project, which is scheduled to run for about 15 months, will help prisoners defer their child support payments while incarcerated, thereby eliminating a potentially large debt when they are released. About 700 inmates in Wayne County have been identified as having outstanding support issues while behind bars. The program's ultimate goal is to facilitate prisoners' re-entry into society by deferring the debt they owe.

The project will be supervised by Daniel E. Manville, staff attorney to the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic and adjunct professor of law, and directed by Erica M. Eisinger, director of clinical education for the law school.

With the funding, the clinic expects to assist approximately 400 prisoners. Up to a dozen law school students may work on the project, under the supervision of Manville and Eisinger.