Justice Defenders trains incarcerated people and prison staff side by side as paralegals and lawyers to serve those denied justice.
DEFEND the
DEFENCELESS
Give today to reimagine the justice system.
Access to justice is a human right. We defend it because more than 3 million people in prison worldwide have not been convicted of a crime.
170,000 clients served
Providing free legal advice to incarcerated people without access to justice in Kenya and Uganda.
69,000 people released
Reuniting formerly incarcerated people with their families and the communities they call home.
700 paralegals trained
Equipping incarcerated people and prison officers to defend themselves and others in court.
Numbers updated: November 2025
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A community of unlikely allies
We are defenders of the defenceless. We are a community that serves people in conflict with criminal law. Our movement unites those behind bars and those beyond them: people in prison, prison officers, advocates, and supporters.
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A law firm of lived experience
Two Justice Defenders have gone on to qualify as Advocates of the High Court of Kenya, and are now practising law in the very system that once confined them. Many more are following in their footsteps.
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A global movement shifting power in prisons
In 2025, Justice Defenders marked a historic milestone as Kenya’s High Court agreed to hear a landmark challenge to the death penalty, led by Morris Kaberia, formerly on death row and now a lawyer trained by Justice Defenders.
Meet the
Defenders
“There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried.”
Saint Óscar Romero
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Morris Kaberia
From Death Row to Defending Justice Everywhere
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William Okumu
From Being Behind Bars to Joining the Bar
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Hamisi Mzari
From a Prison Cell to High Court Advocate
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Ruth Kamande
From a Death Sentence to Defending Women and Girls
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Canaan Nkamuhabwa
From Death Row to Championing the Forgotten
Our transformative work
has been featured in the
media for over twenty years.
THE GUARDIAN
BBC
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
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