EMPOWERING THE POWERLESS INTERVIEW BY LISA PIERRE I first met Alexander McLean on his graduation day a decade ago. I was introduced to him by his father, who was keen for Alexander to find out about the alumni network. We chatted and he told me he was working in Uganda with a charity he had set up after a chance visit to a maximum security prison. That charity was the African Prisons Project (APP).
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ince then, the charity has become well-known within the University of London, as has Alexander. His work has attracted global interest from the media and politicians, and I hear a popular TV show is keen to do an interview. So, after my first interview 10 years ago, I was interested to know what has changed in Alexander’s life and how the APP has grown from what he launched as a student society back in 2007.
You set up the APP after seeing the conditions of prisoners and the way they were treated. Was there a particular instance that prompted you to want to help? What improvements do you think that APP has made in the last 10 years? I’m excited to see that in many ways the culture has shifted in Uganda and Kenya Prisons Services over the last 15 years, away from harsh punishment towards rehabilitation and redemption.
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