Societal Change

Ultimately, our desire is to see a change in society's attitude towards criminal justice and people in prison. We work to realise a human rights and rehabilitation based approach to imprisonment, in line with the missions of the prisons services we work with. However, we realise that it is important to help politicians, the judiciary and society as a whole to see the benefit of such an approach.

Our societal change work looks at challenging society's ideas about imprisonment in Africa in the 21st century. We feel that this is especially important in countries where prisons were introduced by colonial administrations and their use was almost solely punitive.

Through the media, research, volunteers, partnerships and activism we believe that we can contribute towards a new approach to criminal justice in Africa and beyond.

    The principles behind our Societal Change initiatives are that:

    • It is vital to educate the wider society about people in prison, to create a more understanding and tolerant environment for ex-prisoners to return to.
    • Penal reform will only come about when society demands it, therefore society must be exposed to what it means to be in prison, especially as everyone is imprisoned in our names.
    • The media to raise awareness of prisons issues, especially in conjunction with prisons visits by high profile people such as politicians, members of the judiciary and diplomats who can bring about change.
    • We also take a large number of local and international volunteers to assist with our projects in prison in order to sensitise them and create new ambassadors for penal reform.

    APP will bring about systemic change in Societal Change in Africa by:

    • Recording prisoners’ music. As we cannot take prisoners out into society to educate people about prisons life and the potential for change in prison, we record their music instead. Through these recordings we give prisoners back their voice.
    • APP actively recruits ex-inmates to serve on its staff and as volunteers. These ex-inmates also play an important part in educating society about the potential for reform.
    • We facilitate research into criminal justice issues in Africa, an area which traditionally has been overlooked by academics.
    • We encourage media involvement in prisons issues, both as a way of getting members of society thinking about issues which they might not have previously considered and also celebrating successes and highlighting challenges which are faced by prisons services in realising their missions.
    • We support other NGOs, businesses and education institutions in building relationships with prisons services, in order that they might contribute their experience and expertise.

    Societal Change past and present projects

    • Academic reports and articles produced on criminal justice issues.
    • Sensitisation of decision makers about penal issues.
    • Partnerships between prisons services and bodies which would not have previously considered doing work in prisons.
    • Media coverage which helps challenge society's perception about imprisonment and criminal justice issues.

    Impacts

    To give you an idea of the level of impact we are having, this is what we achieved in this area in Uganda in 2010:

    • Advocacy: Prisons opened up by taking in more than 50 local and international members of the community.
    • Media: 3 appearances on Uganda NTV; BBC world service radio programme made about remand issues in Uganda, working in collaboration with APP; features in the New Vision and Monitor; Appearance on Vision Radio: Regular appearances on Radio Maria; Featured in Tearfund and Lincoln’s Inn publications; featured on Uganda Broadcasting Corporation news; visit by Daily Telegraph for a story to be published next year, amongst others.
    • Building partnerships: Hospice Africa Uganda and Havens Hospices.
    • Needs assessments: Comprehensive needs assessment of Uganda prisons conducted by master’s student from Clinton School of Public Research, Arkansas.
    • Research: Reports on Juvenile Justice in Uganda , palliative care in Uganda prisons and research to support our report on treatment of girls in conflict with the law.