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Commonwealth Day 2019: Our Connection

The theme for 2019 is ‘’, which offers opportunities for individuals and organisations across the world to connect and work together.

International Women’s Day 2019

A call to action for the women and girls around the world who still experience inequality and injustice.

Our Students - A Force for Change

"I thank God. I actually don't have enough words to thank my tutors," Isaac Ndegwa LLB student. [Kenya]

Winners of the Google Impact Challenge Kenya

“We are changemakers. We are ordinary radicals. We are game changers. We are the African Prisons Project” Sheila Waruhiu.

What Happens After a Prisoner is Released?

"A few weeks ago, I went to receive Morris Kaberia, who was being released from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Nairobi…”

Youth Centre Opening Celebrated With Thanks

“This is what I have been waiting for since 2005. At last I have somewhere to go!” These were the grateful words spoken by Jessica, a young female resident of Luzira Prison Complex, Kampala.

Mandela International Day 2018

Nelson Mandela once said, "no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails."

Access to Justice in A "Peculiar Environment"

“Our hope is in you … APP has set a precedent in prison by piloting a prison-based Legal Aid clinic...”

Celebrating Change From Inside The Prison Walls

I’ve worked in prisons since I was 18. Death row inmates in Uganda call me ‘a prisoner by choice’.

Fighting for the rights of mothers with postpartum depression.

Rose, like many mothers across the world, experienced depression. With a lack of medical care, she was treated unfairly by the law. Thanks to our work, she is reunited with her daughter.

From death row to presidential palaces. One woman’s incredible fight for justice.

Having graduated with a law degree while incarcerated, Susan now travels the world campaigning against the death sentence.

“My 13-year imprisonment was a setup. They never wanted us to get married.”

Despite having the paperwork to prove Emily’s age and his innocence, Simon was convicted of aggravated defilement. No court would hear his appeal, so Simon spent 13 years in prison for a crime he, and Emily, says he didn’t commit. 

Punitive sentencing for petty offences; vestiges of colonial times.

In East Africa young people are persistently caught up in drug trafficking, loitering and pickpocketing charges, resulting in long periods in prison. Here Draconian laws still apply, yet to be reviewed for the 21st Century. So laws often criminalise and marginalise the people with least in society.

The law: Enforcing it, breaking it, studying it. One man's journey

When he used to work as a police officer, Gilbert would take people to prison with little thought about fair trials or sentencing. Until he found himself in conflict with the law he once administered. 

What's the impact of a university degree, if you still have many years left in prison?

Degrees mean extra responsibilities. Four students and graduates in Kenya and Uganda have been promoted to the highly trusted position of 'trusteeship'.

Reconciliation of self and community

Amateur chef Pepe Ivan Matovu recalls how he found hope, healing and restoration in one of Uganda’s most populous prisons.

Adapting to the pandemic: Reconnecting people in prisons with their loved ones.

For people in prison, visits from family used to offer a moment of reassurance. Connection with the outside world. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, visitations are paused. Isolating many from those they love. Until recently. We’ve worked to repurpose our technology and reconnect families in Kenya.

“You are successful when you remember that somewhere, someone gave you a gift.”

Sentenced to death for robbery, Joyce tried not to let her sentence define her. While in prison, she found a new love for making clothes.