From death row to law graduate | Peter Ouko

Peter Ouko spent 18 years in Kamiti Prison in Kenya, sometimes locked up in a cell with 13 other grown men for 23 and a half hours a day. In a moving talk, he tells the story of how he was freed — and his current mission with the African Prisons Project: to set up the first law school behind bars and empower people in prison to drive positive change.

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48 Comments on From death row to law graduate | Peter Ouko

    • halfwaysleet well good for you. Would you like a fucking medal? I’m the 666th like but you don’t see me making a big fucking deal.

    • Aggressiveness can be controlled by our thoughts, which are influenced by the environment we live in. Sure a person can have trait aggressiveness, that doesn’t mean he or she will be aggressive. Everyone can change, some people are harder to change, but we are humans that are capable of solving complex problems. Someone that tends to be more aggressive can be less aggressive through meditation and other ways. This is why I believe the american justice system is horrible, they don’t try to correct behavior, they punish.

    • Very true that there are wrongful convictions. But I’m focused on repeat offenders and those who you can’t deny. Those we need to purge from the world. Those who need to be confined to solitary..even in prison. Then again, American prisons don’t truly rehabilate their prisoners or else someone is going to be blamed for poor rehab.

    • Punishing someone for their crimes does not reduce the odds that they will offend again, on the contrary. Norway’s prison system focuses on removing peoples freedom instead of punishing them and they are the most successful prison system on earth with an astonishingly low recidivism rate.

    • halfwaysleet Anyone who can change, does change. The fact that a person is aggressive is proof of their inability to not be aggressive, up to that point. It’s like when your parents told you to do your best. No matter what you did, it was your best at that time. We’re only just starting to turn the corner as a society and accept that free will is a bogus notion and whatever you do, is the only thing you could have done. You can only use meditation to correct behavior if it is in the determined cards to do so.

    • I disagree with you that a person being aggressive is proof of their inability to not be aggressive. Our brains are very powerful and capable of change until the day of death. DNA changes a lot during your lifetime.

  1. *its funny how some ppl tend to be amazed by this, but im not tbh. Anybody thats SMART can literally achieve almost anything with just a sliver of hard work. Not so smart people cant achieve great things, but I’ll be more impressed when a dummy achieves something great*

    • One isn’t born an intellectual. Sure, there may be some neurons linked together in a slightly more effective way, but data is not the problem. Fear is the problem, and it’s even more a problem if your childhood was filled with abuse. The abusers create the criminals, and it’s that way in almost every society. But the beauty of democracy is the freedom to see another kind of life and then live it. That is very, very hard. Not impossible, but in my humble opinion, harder to see when selfishness and abuse filled your world while growing up. At that point, when you see it, you must begin helping in some way.

    • No one is able to withstand evil systems for long. Skin pigment has nothing to do with it, other than one person is being forced to bow down, and the other ‘has’ to fight back to survive or somehow turn the other cheek and walk away. As for gods and devils, you will find them in every single race, creed or attitude…especially with self-proclaimed evangelicals.

  2. It’s unbelievable what a person is able to cope with. You always think “No, I can’t take this, this is way to much for me to deal with.” But the end, you HAVE to go through it AND you’ll make it.

  3. شاب ظالم جبار لم يترك ذنب إلا وفعله وليس له من أقارب إلا أمه وذات صباح وجدته أمه ميت ذهبت لأهل القرية لتأتي بمن يغسله ويدفنه فلم يأتي معها أحد والكل كان فرحاً بموته وبعد عدة محاولات مع شيخ المسجد جاء فغسله وكفنه ولكنه لا يستطيع أن يحمله وحده للمقابر فذهب الشيخ إلى أهل القرية جميعاً لعل يجد من يحمله معه للدفن ولكن دون جدوى فأبصر الشيخ يراعي غنم غريب مرتحل فطلب منه أن يحمل معه الميت للدفن وتظل أم الشاب الميت تحرس الغنم حتي يعودو وبالفعل حمل الأثنان الميت وعندما وصلا المقابر قال الراعي هل صليتم عليه؟ فقال الشيخ لا. فقال الراعي لما لا نصلي أنا وأنت عليه ؟ فقال الشيخ صلي أنت عليه وحدك. وبالفعل صلى الراعي عليه صلاة الجنازة . ورجع الشيخ وعندما نام رأي الشاب الميت بالجنة . وظل يرى هذه الرؤية مراراً وتكراراً . وظل يتسائل كيف لمثل هذا الظالم الفاسد أن يدخل الجنة ؟ لعل هذا الراعي دعا له دعوة فاستجابها الله له. وبعد فترة أبصر الشيخ الراعي. فأسرع إليه وقال له : عندما صليت على الميت بماذا دعوت له؟ فكانت المفاجئة . قال الراعي: أنا لا أعرف أن أصلي ولكني وقفت وقلت يارب لو أن هذا الرجل ضيفي لذبحت له أفضل شاه عندي ولكنه ضيفك وأنت الكريم فتدبر أمره أنت أعلم به. فرد الشيخ وهو يبكي هذه الكلمات هي سبب دخوله الجنة.فضلاً وليس أمراً لو أعجبتك القصة …… أكتب أسم من أسماء الله ❤❤❤

  4. He sounds like that psycho South African convict who usually says “I kil dem”. Overall, he did a great job for himself. Most get depressed and end up back in prison or homeless.

    • Meaning what? You want a winky dinky badge? Or control of everything? I’m not attacking, just considering the stance your words seem to be taking. 😉

  5. This man earned his law degree behind bars and here is I.., even after being blessed abundantly am not able to finish my management degree. But now I must say that I can’t find excuses because if this great man can do it then it’s my duty to finish mine and help others

  6. The saddest thing about “correctional systems” is that they are inherently designed to create repeat offenders. The amount of potential wasting away in prisons is a waste of human capital. Someone might become a criminal through circumstances but they don’t have to remain criminals for the rest of their lives.

    • It’s all about believing it, and when you’ve fallen that low in society, it feels like the ability to believe is the only thing you got left, and it’s free. Fear of the unknown causes us to withdraw from that big jump. But fear is based on letting what others think of you dictate what you think of you. Staying on course is tricky, but doable. One has to be patient and earnestly moving forward.

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