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Communities of Restoration

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A Life-Saving Prison

Jefferson knows about the lure of crime. Like so many ex-prisoners, he discovered that freedom from confinement does not mean freedom from problems. When he left prison at the age of 32, Jefferson had to find a job despite the stigma of a prison sentence and Brazil’s 9 percent unemployment rate. With 31 percent of Brazilians living below the poverty line, few seem to have sympathy for the prisoner.

35 Years of Helping Prisoners

More than fifteen Prison Fellowship organisations around the world are operating faith-based prison units that offer invaluable spiritual and moral training to inmates.

PF Chile Expands APAC-based Units to More Prisons

After launching the country’s first APAC-based prison unit earlier this year for 100 inmates in Iquique, Chile, PF is helping the national chaplaincy organisation to develop the faith-based units in 14 more prisons.

Preparing Prisoners for Release

In the state of Entre Rios, Prison Fellowship Argentina, Catholic Prison Pastoral, Baptist Prison Ministry, “Patronato de Liberados” (parole) are working together in the provision of a pre-release programme for prisoners who are ninety days from obtaining conditional release.

APAC-Offering Hope for the Burdened

Ten years ago, Roberto was burdened by despair and hopelessness. The source of his misery, however, wasn’t the 25-year prison sentence he was serving, or even having to share a cell with 30 other prisoners in a space built for just six. His anguish came from a place within him that felt utterly unloved. “I began to believe that people didn’t love me, that my family no longer loved me, that even God didn’t love me anymore,” he now recalls. “I believed I was the trash of society, with no value,” he adds.

Growing Interest in Innovative Prison Management System

Prison Fellowship affiliates are running prison regimes that represent unique changes in prison management. These changes are based of the methodology developed by the Association for Protection and Assistance to the Convicted (APAC), the PF affiliate in Brazil. The APAC methodology creates a strong community environment among prisoners and volunteers that fosters spiritual, behavioral and lifestyle changes.

Site Description: APAC Etre Rios

The APAC Method is in the process of being implemented in four prisons in the Entre Rios Province of Argentina. The Entre Rios Province Prison Pastoral Team of Prison Fellowship Argentina is carrying out this work. Known as APAC de ENTRE RIOS, the Association for the Protection and Assistance of the Convicted of Entre Rios, APACER is a civil volunteer association with its legal address in the city of Concordia in the Province of Entre Rios. It does not as yet have any fully-fledged residential APAC units, but is working with individuals and groups of prisoners in four prisons.

Site Description: Itauna Prison

Itauna, a university and industrial city with a population of around 70,000, was UNESCO City of Culture in 1975. The city is said to have a very low crime rate, and the civic, legal, and Church authorities are supportive of APAC. The origins of APAC Itauna go back to 1984, with the creation of a Roman Catholic Prison Pastoral Group. In 1986 this became an APAC group when the volunteers recognised the need to organise themselves more effectively in order to extend their work with prisoners. Since 1986 there has been a Triennial Public Meeting, the purpose/focus of which is translated as “A Meeting/Encounter to Awaken the Public Conscience to the Brazilian Prison System”.