justicedefenders

About

In 2007, Alexander McLean experienced a transformative moment during gap year travels through Africa when he visited a prison in Uganda. Witnessing the desperate lack of legal representation for incarcerated individuals sparked his realization that those closest to injustice could become its fiercest defenders. He began bringing law books into prisons, training incarcerated people and prison staff to understand and utilise the law. What started as a personal mission evolved into Justice Defenders, originally founded as African Prisons Project, a movement that places the tools of justice directly into the hands of those who need them most. Today, Justice Defenders operates across 22 prisons in Kenya and Uganda, with expansion pilots in the United States. The organisation has trained over 700 paralegals and 67 law graduates who earn Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of London while incarcerated. By training incarcerated people and prison staff side by side as paralegals and lawyers, Justice Defenders builds legal capacity inside prisons where access to justice is virtually nonexistent. Two trained defenders have already qualified as Advocates of the High Court of Kenya, now practising law in the same justice system that once confined them.