History
In 2004 Alexander McLean, an 18 year old UK citizen volunteering in a hospital in Kampala, visited and treated a group of prisoners in Luzira Upper Prison Uganda. Struck by the living conditions of the prisoners, he bought materials and supervised the renovation of the prison infirmary.
Alexander returned to the UK, but continued to work for his new cause both there and in Uganda. Initially, Alexander collected books and money to return to the prison and founded a library. Over time the African Prisons Project (APP) was born as a student society at Nottingham University.
Upon graduation Alexander returned to Uganda to give the charity his full attention and was again joined by other volunteers. The group undertook infrastructure projects e.g. refurbishing sick bays or building libraries and also smaller projects in Education, Health, Justice and Reintegration. In 2007 APP moved to registered charity status.
The group’s initial focus on Uganda built credibility from a continuity of presence not demonstrated by even some of the largest NGOs. This respect was used to generate interest elsewhere, for example, leading to participation in a UNDPKO prison development trip to Sierra Leone.
Our work involves working closely with prison administrators, prison staff and prisoners themselves to identify their needs and help them to respond to them. This attention to detail and readiness to go the extra mile is what we believe makes us a beacon of service. We work with international and local organisations and volunteers as well as our own passionate, carefully recruited and trained staff to bring about transformation, both in the lives of people in prison and the way that society perceives them. Our vision is that each of our staff and those who volunteer with us become ambassadors of hope and care for the poor, and advocates for penal reform.
We strive to give prison staff a reason to be proud of their work and to stimulate debate about imprisonment, often by gaining positive media coverage of prisons.
To date we have touched the lives of over 25,000 prison inmates and staff in Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. This includes sending more than 120,000 books to create libraries in prison; building and refurbishing prison clinics and hospitals with a total inpatient bed capacity exceeding 200; providing literacy classes and other educational assistance to more than 500 inmates every week. We have provided legal assistance to several hundred inmates and have helped dozens of terminally ill prisoners and children in prison to receive medical treatment in government hospitals and to die with dignity and without pain, including getting some of them released from prison before they die. The result of all of this is that more people in prison in Africa have hope. They do not give up on themselves because they know we will not give up on them. Our work builds self-esteem and gives skills to people in prison. We do everything possible to equip them with the ability to support themselves and contribute to their community when released. And for those who, for whatever reason, never leave prison, we help their time to be lived with dignity and hope in the knowledge that their lives are precious.
Getting this far has required a tremendous amount of hard work and determination on the part of many people. This includes our trustees, and our patrons Lord Ramsbotham; Lord Boston of Faversham, QC; The Honourable Mrs Justice Dobbs, DBE; Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala, Archbishop of Uganda; and Jon Snow.
We are grateful for the recognition and support we have received from Vodafone UK; The Clore Duffield Foundation; Coutt’s Bank; Tearfund; The Beacon Fellowship; ICAP; The Royal Society of Arts; The Universities of Nottingham and Cambridge, amongst numerous others. We are delighted to have worked in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross; The Clinton School of Public Service; Second Chance; Hospice Africa; Basic Needs; the Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity; Makerere University; Lazarus Caring Ministries and many others.