All Updates
CBS 60 Minutes features Justice Defenders
CNN News anchor Anderson Cooper traveled to Kenya to visit prison communities and see our work in legal education, training, and practise.
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S&B – Alexander McLean is not a normal son
In the early years of Alexander McLean’s life, while he was volunteering at a hospice in Uganda, building a prison library in Kenya and founding a charity that has now helped thousands of people across four African countries, his father asked him a question: “Why can’t you just be a normal son?” McLean is still not normal.
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PR Newswire – 2020 Wise Awards Winners Announced
WISE, an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), has announced the winners of the 2020 WISE Awards, recognizing and promoting six innovative projects from across the world that address global educational challenges.
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News Break – Alexander McLean named 2020 Grinnell Prize recipient
President Anne Harris announced on Wednesday that Alexander McLean, the founder and director general of international nonprofit organization Justice Defenders, has won the 2020 Grinnell College Innovator for Social Justice Prize.
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The Sunday Times – The story of the Londoner bringing justice to East Africa
Justice Defenders enlists lawyers, prison officers, judges and British universities to provide legal training to inmates — some barely educated — so they can become their own advocates.
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Tuko – Kamiti Prison: 10 inmates graduate with law degrees
At least 17 inmates, police officers and former convicts graduated from the Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi with law degrees from the University of London on Thursday, October 31.
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The Spectator – Why former prisoners make the best lawyers
Having set up a UK charity, McLean persuaded authorities in Uganda and later Kenya’s Kamiti Maximum Security prison to let him support bright prisoners, and also their warders, to study for London university’s distance-learning law degree.
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12 days, 12 prison communities.
Prisons are mostly hidden places, unseen and rarely talked about. So we want to take you inside 12 of the prison communities where our defenders live and work. When you look into these prisons, you will see stark realities. But also resilience, courage, and untapped potential. Like leadership skills in the prison staff room. And determination on death row. Our hope is for a world where each of us is equally accountable to and protected by the law.
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2020 Virtual Carol Service
In 2020, we celebrated our annual carol service virtually with our communities in Uganda, Kenya, the U.S., and UK.
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A chapter of progress, despite the pain.
In a world that seems more connected and divided than ever before, our defenders are using this unique chapter in history to keep the wheels of justice turning.
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Black Lives Matter: the role of Justice Defenders in advancing racial equality
Reflections from our founder on our work, the ethos of BLM, and our global reckoning of the costs of racial inequality.
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Covid-19 response: a three-part plan
Our response to the pandemic will be three-fold: a fines fund, tech advocacy, and sanitation partnerships.
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Covid-19 response: reflections on the lockdown
We’re asking ourselves: what does it look like to radically decongest prisons at this time?
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Covid-19 response: a message for our community
Hear from our Founder, Alexander McLean, on how we're navigating this COVID-19 pandemic.
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Welcome to our 2020 Secondees!
A warm welcome to our 2020 Secondees, senior African justice officials who join us from Kenya and Uganda for a 3-month professional development programme, in partnership with the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
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World Day Against The Death Penalty 2019: a day of solidarity
This year, 10th October 2019, marked the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty.There are not many occasions when a representative from the Vatican sits to break bread with criminalized individuals. And yet, last month, our team in Uganda hosted a Solidarity Visit to the condemn section at Luzira Upper Prison, Uganda, to mark this date as part of EU global outreach. Amongst those attending were a . The delegation was led by EU Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Attilio Pacifici, and included Ambassadors and representatives from Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Iceland, Norway and the Vatican.
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Jane's story: From death row, to paralegal officer
As one of our trained paralegals in Langata Women's Prison in Kenya, Jane is enabling fellow incarcerated women to access essential legal services. Fostering hope for a more just world.
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The ripple effect of individual impact
When defenceless individuals in conflict with the law get a fair hearing, impact spreads to families, communities, prisons, court systems, and society as a whole.
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Voices from Uganda
We've expanded our compassionate release campaign reach into Uganda. Hundreds of nonviolent offenders await your support.
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Compassionate release campaign update
We're making progress on decongesting prisons during the pandemic. Many more await your support.
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Gilbert Wanami
Gilbert is a first-year LLB student, released 12 May 2020 into the arms of his wife, Maureen.
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Release: Joseph Karanja, pioneer and free man
Joseph Karanja has spent 20 years in prison. He was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to death at his trial in 2001. However, in 2009 he was one of 4,000 prisoners whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.
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Pascal Kakuru
Pascal began studying law whilst on death row. He became APP’s first student to receive a Law Degree (LLB) from the University of London in September 2017 and is continuing to study for his Masters (LLM).
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