When Prisoners Become Lawyers

What Justice Defenders and a New Documentary Reveal About True Justice

In just a few days, millions worldwide will watch a documentary that many considered impossible: a film that tells the story of prisoners, prison officers, formerly incarcerated lawyers, and advocates studying law together, side by side, behind the walls of jails across Africa.

That film is not a work of fiction. It is real. It is the story of Justice Defenders.

Founded in 2007, Justice Defenders was born from a simple but radical conviction: those who have lived through injustice are uniquely equipped to reshape justice. We train paralegals and lawyers from within prisons, turning defenceless communities into legal defenders, capable of advocating for their own rights and for others’. Some find that idea hard to accept. The assumption remains that law is a profession for the privileged, those with resources, connections, and freedom. But what if the law could belong to all of us? What if those deemed “offenders” became the architects of justice? What if those who once suffered from inequality became its fiercest opponents?

That is what Justice Defenders set out to do. Over the past two decades, we have trained more than 700 auxiliary paralegals across prisons in Uganda, Kenya, and The Gambia. We have provided free legal services to over 170,000 incarcerated people who otherwise would have had no access to justice. And we have witnessed more than 69,000 clients released through court orders.

In 2024, 47 of our students, prisoners and prison officers, graduated with University of London law degrees in Kenya and Uganda. We now have a total of 67 graduates. Among them are Morris Kaberia, our Legal Education Lead and former death row inmate, and Hamisi Mazari and William Okumu, now practising advocates at Kenya’s High Court.

The documentary will not shy away from the tension and pain of prison life. Instead, it shows what is possible when we choose solidarity over suspicion, humility over hierarchy, and shared purpose over division. It shows prisoners and officers kneeling together, washing each other’s feet, praying, and breaking bread. It shows law degrees earned by students who studied by torchlight. It shows new advocates walking free.

This is not just a story about reform. It is a challenge to all of us.

How many legal systems exclude the voices that matter most?

How many courts deny representation to the most vulnerable?

How many nations tolerate injustice simply because the law is kept in the hands of the few?

In a deeply divided world, divided by race, by class, by history, by prisons, Justice Defenders stands for a different vision: one of radical inclusion, human dignity, and shared responsibility.

We believe that bravery, humility, solidarity, integrity and excellence are not just virtues, they are the foundation of justice. We believe that people who have lived through injustice are not liabilities. They are assets. We believe that prison walls should not be places of shame, but of transformation.

So as the documentary airs, I hope people listen not only to the stories, but to what those stories demand of us. Because in prison there are minds that can move mountains. And the world needs them now more than ever.

Alexander McLean
Founder and CEO, Justice Defenders

Tune in this Sunday, 7 December, for The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper at 8PM ET/PT live on CNN.