Once a police officer responsible for enforcing the law, Gilbert Wanami found himself on the other side of the justice system when he was arrested and tried for murder in 2009. He spent eleven years in prison before his release in 2020, an experience that exposed him to the realities faced by people without legal representation or understanding of their rights. Seeing how poverty, illiteracy, and lack of legal support trapped many of his fellow inmates, he felt compelled to become a changemaker.

While serving his sentence in Kamiti Maximum Prison, Gilbert enrolled in the University of London law degree programme in 2019 through Justice Defenders. He graduated in 2022, gaining the knowledge and confidence to pursue his ambition of representing those who have a cry for justice and would otherwise face the courts alone. His lived experience, combined with formal legal training, gives him a rare insight into both sides of the criminal justice system.