The Power of the Law in the Hands of the Poor

Alexander McLean

Founder, African Prisons Project

Around the world prisons are in crisis, overcrowded and under-resourced. Those who need justice most are least likely to gain access to it. And those who have the most to contribute to the justice system - who have experienced it for themselves - are least likely to be heard.

African Prisons Project seeks to turn this around. By empowering prisons and prison staff through legal services and training they seek to place the power of the law into the hands of the poor. Unique in their work is not that they offer free legal services within the prison walls, but that those who are empowered to provide them are the prisoners and prison guards themselves.

A reception in the Hesburgh Center's Great Hall will follow the talk.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.