Alexander McLean founded Justice Defenders (Previously, the African Prisons Project) to bring hope and dignity into prisons in Africa from the bottom up. His work includes establishing Uganda’s first prison libraries, giving access to a complete pipeline of education options from primary to higher education, and generating new low-cost health services.

Justice Defenders’ focus is on identifying, developing and equipping leaders amongst prisoners and prisons staff to use the law, literacy and healthcare to transform their communities. Their model for primary healthcare in prisons is being rolled out to all 240 prisons in Uganda. The organisation has a cohort of almost 50 prisoners and prisons staff studying for law degrees with the University of London from Kenyan and Ugandan prisons. Those that Justice Defenders has given legal training to have gotten more than 2000 people released from prison and multiple death sentences overturned in the past few years.

www.justice-defenders.org