Hamisi Mzari
From Prison Cell to the High Court
University of London LLB Graduate and Senior Legal Officer, Justice Defenders
“In prisons we have brains that can move mountains”.
Hamisi Mzari’s journey is one of transformation, resilience, and radical hope. Once in conflict with the law, he experienced first-hand how easily lives can be broken by a justice system that many do not understand. Inside prison, he witnessed countless men and women suffering simply because they lacked access to legal representation or the knowledge to defend themselves.
When the opportunity arose to volunteer with Justice Defenders in 2014, Hamisi seized it. He began teaching, mentoring, and offering legal aid to those who had no voice. Through this work, he discovered his calling to defend those denied justice. He later earned a University of London law degree while supporting his young family and helping to build Justice Defenders’ Kenya office from the ground up.
Hamisi recalls carrying boxes of legal textbooks into prisons where officers once told him he was wasting his time. Many doubted that prisoners could change or that education could take root behind bars. Yet in 2019, when Justice Defenders celebrated its first class of University of London law graduates, both prisoners and officers, Hamisi knew the world had changed.
Now a Senior Legal Officer and soon to be admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Hamisi calls his journey “radical integration.” From sitting in a prison cell to sitting at the same table as judges in the High Court of Milimani, he embodies the belief that no one is beyond redemption.
“For me, being shortlisted for admission to the bar felt like crossing a bridge, from being seen as a criminal to being recognised as a law-abiding citizen. Prison was not the end of my life. It was the beginning of a new one.”
