Extremely humbled to announce that I have started volunteering with the African Prisons Project (APP). They aim to restore hope and dignity to inmates. How do they do this? By placing the power of the law in the hands of the poor.
In partnership with the University of London’s International Programme, prisoners and prison staff have been supported to study for a Law degree; 63 to date. The same students provide paralegal services to fellow inmates. In 2015-2016, 2,371 prisoners were supported by these services. On average, 10 prisoners are released every 48 hours thanks to APP Justice Changemakers. Men and women have trained to succeed in overturning their own and others’ death sentences.
I have been fortunate to interact with some of the inmates that were sentenced to death and will be sharing my experiences soon.
But why did I choose to get involved? Watch this TED talk by Alexander McLean (founder of APP) to understand how sheltered we are from reality.