We are looking to raise $26,000 towards the work of African Prisons Project (APP), in order to support them in continuing work to improve the welfare of prisoners and prison staff and their families in Africa.

Why give money to APP? 

Please take two minutes to watch the profoundly moving video in the gallery below, on APP's Access to Justice Projects. 

Prisoners are some of society’s most marginalised members of society, often abandoned and rejected by the outside world. We are working on the front-line to challenge the stigma that has been placed on prisoners and prison staff by investing in individuals who have the potential to change their future.

The conditions in African prisons can be painfully poor. Many prisons are severely overcrowded, lack sanitation and are unable to provide adequate nutrition to inmates. Access to books and education is either limited or non-existent and medical facilities are wholly inadequate. Physical punishment and the death penalty are still widespread, and for many people a prison sentence means hard labour. In many African countries more than two-thirds of prisoners are on remand. Many are imprisoned on remand for years, sometimes over a decade, before having even been convicted. 

African Prisons Project works alongside prisoners and prisons staff, providing the tools and support to allow the transformation of African Prisons into places or dignity, hope and reform. 

How they work - African Prisons Project have made it their mission to reform the African penal system since they were founded by Alexander McLean in 2007. In order to do this they focus their in-country activities on:

•        Building and supplying libraries in prisons.

•        Providing entrepreneurial and vocational training to inmates.

•        Helping inmates study for diplomas and degrees in law.

•        Securing scholarships for prison staff to gain Masters degrees in law, health and education.

To ensure their work is sustained and felt throughout the system, APP foster partnerships and work closely with prison services, the police, the judiciary, lawyers, NGOs, businesses, universities, healthcare providers, prison staff and of course, the prisoners themselves. Together they are working to bring about a fairer and dignified existence to Africa’s forgotten prisoners – many of which are unjustly sentenced and condemned.

What has been the impact to date? Today APP are working throughout prisons in Kenyan and Uganda. They have directly impacted the lives of tens of thousands of prison staff and inmates. Every year, they provide entrepreneurial and vocational training to 1,000 prisoners, giving them the skills necessary to seek employment after prison and 100,000 inmates now have access to library services across 11 prisons. 

African Prisons has touched and transformed the lives of many, by providing them with the skills to create their own change. One of our highest achieving LLB graduates Susan worked to overturn her own unjust death sentence whilst studying under the support and sponsorship of APP. She is now continuing her studies via distance learning whilst supporting fellow inmates with legal advice and support. She plans to become a trust lawyer, supporting vulnerable widow women, when she is released in 2016.

What would your donation provide?

$50 will provide nutritional support to inmates living with HIV on death row

$150 helps to run a football tournament in a prison - a platform for social engagement, physical fitness and a place to engage all inmates at once about sanitation, disease prevention, gender relations and more. 

$500 helps to provide a prison with a portable library with adult literacy, health and legal education materials, as well as educators to bring the books to life.