They Call Me Counsel Betty Now
When Betty Florence Mbatudde was on death row in Uganda, her family stopped visiting. She had no news of her only child.
After one appeal hearing, when her sentence was upheld, she remembers feeling completely alone.
“I felt shame and desperation,” Betty says. “Daily life was just survival. No hope, no plan.”
At Luzira Women Prison, Betty found something she had never expected to find there: a way forward.
She began studying with Justice Defenders and eventually earned a University of London law degree. She learned how to research cases and draft the legal documents she once could not even understand, including appeals, affidavits and bail applications.
Before long, Betty was using those skills to help other people.
One was Susan Lubuga Namulondo, a 25-year-old mother of three who had been charged with murder after a mob killed a man accused of stealing her phone. Betty listened to Susan, reviewed her case, researched the law and helped identify evidence for her defence.
After a full trial, Susan was acquitted.
“I thought I would die in prison,” Susan told her.
Betty has since left prison. Today, she works as a Legal Trainee with Justice Defenders Uganda and hopes to complete the Bar Course and qualify as an advocate.
The change is felt at home too. Betty says her family and community now call her “Counsel Betty.” She is able to support her family financially.
“Where there was shame before, now there’s pride.”
Betty Florence Mbatudde at home following her release.
Help train more paralegals like Betty, strengthen prison legal offices and work alongside justice institutions so more people can understand and use the law.