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Stories about Communities of Restoration
Up one levelNews items related to Communities of Restoration (APAC) based programmes
- 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.
- Exciting Times in the New Life Project
- Recently, PF Norway’s New Life Project received its second group of five participants. Through this programme, PF Norway seeks to create a culture of hope and motivation in helping prisoners change behaviour and prepare for re-entry into society. The prisoner’s motivation for change is the main criterion for acceptance into the programme. Others include security and group dynamics.
- IFI Iowa Receives a New Blow
- In February, the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) announced that it will cancel the contract for the InnerChange Freedom Initiative. In making the decision, prison officials cited contract provision that allows the DOC to cancel the programme if the enrolment is less than 60 participants. With 27 participants graduating on March 14, 2008, this occurred.
- New Zealand Faith-based Unit impacted by Lockdown
- In late 2007, the New Zealand Department of Corrections implemented an extended time of lockdown for prisoners due to various staffing and budget constraints. In many prisons, including Rimutaka Prison housing the PF New Zealand Faith-based Unit, prisoners are locked in their cells from 5:00pm until 8:00am. While posing challenges to the activities of PF New Zealand volunteers in all programmes, the new lockdown policy offers unique problems for the faith-based unit.
- PF USA Receives Favourable Decision in IFI Lawsuit
- PFUSA has been defending their Community of Restoration, called InnerChange Freedom Initiative IFI), against claims that it violates the US Constitution’s provisions about church and state. Last year a trial court ruled that IFI’s contract with the Iowa Department of Corrections was unconstitutional and demanded not only that the program be closed down, but also that IFI reimburse the state government $1.5 million dollars). This was appealed to the federal appellate court and a decision was handed down earlier this week.
- National Celebration Recognizes PF Germany’s Prisma Programme
- On 22 September, around 700 people gathered at Seehaus Leonberg, the farm site of PF Germany’s alternative to prison programme for young offenders called PRISMA. The gathering was a part of the ‘Germany Land of Ideas’ celebration highlighting 365 buisness, projects, institutions, etc as landmarks of inventiveness and creativity in Germany. One landmark is recognised each day of the year.
- “Mirjam” Faith-based Unit
- PF Latvia’s Mirjam faith-based unit assists women prisoners through relationship building, developing artistic talents and building self-confidence.
- IFI Update
- IFI in Texas celebrates its 10th anniversary, the Iowa programme loses funding and a new programme opens for women in Missouri.
- Update from the PF Singapore Faith-based Unit
- The PF Singapore faith-based unit pilot is in its 10th month of operation with 39 prisoners remaining in the unit in Changi Prison Complex Institution A2.
- 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.
- Faith-based Unit Opens in Singapore
- On 5 June 2006, PF Singapore held a commissioning ceremony for its faith-based unit, Back to Genesis. Beginning with 43 prisoners in the two week orientation period, the programme consists of two phases: an 18 month pre-release phase and a 12 month post-release phase.
- Lives in Transition: Proof of a Life Transformed
- Lives in Transition is a 16-week intensive pre- and post-release programme operated by PF Australia (Victoria). In this article, Robert, a programme graduate, describes how the programme caused him to see the reality of his offending and to seek a meeting to apologise to his victim.
- APAC Receives Visit and Support from Government Officials
- In late 2005, several representatives of state and local government traveled to the city of Itaúna with the expressed purpose of visiting APAC. This group included the Secretary for Social Defense of the State of Minas Gerais, the Coordinator of a State-wide prison reform project, a representative of the military police and judges. They toured the entire facility including the work areas, offices, classrooms and the three regimes – open, semi-open, and closed.
- A Prison Like No Other
- The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) is a Biblically-based, Christ-centred programme modelled on the highly successful prison programme that started in Texas, USA in April 1997, through the co-operation of PF Ministries (in the USA) and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The IFI model seeks to help prisoners to establish a personal foundation built on Biblical principles. Prisoners are confronted with the choice of embracing a new life of personal transformation or remaining in the grip of crime and despair.
- Murder in the Faith-Based Unit
- At 10.30am, Thursday, 4th April a profound event occurred in the faith based unit at Rimutaka Prison, which shook both staff and inmates to the core. It was at that time that an inmate was found dead, with a garden fork through his throat.
- Faith-based Prisons: An Innovative Path Towards Offender Rehabilitation
- ‘He Korowai Whakapono’, the faith-based prison unit at Rimutaka Prison, provides inmates with a Christian programme emphasizing spirituality and moral development, with the aim of rehabilitation and reduced re-offending.
- PF New Zealand – The first Sycamore Tree Project® in the Faith Based Unit
- Five victims of crime and five offenders took part in this inaugural STP in the Faith Based Unit. PFNZ staff member Jackie Katounas ran the programme along with David and Karina TeHira who will run subsequent STP at Rimutaka Prison. I have attended quite a number of STP Celebration events and I hear similar things comings from both offenders and victims. Let me share with you some of the comments that were shared with the assembled guests at the FBU this morning.
- Faith-based Prison Rehabilitation
- An innovative New Zealand prison unit is using prayer and spiritual transformation as a means to reduce prisoner re-offending. The Faith-Based Unit at Rimutaku Prison is the first of its kind in Australasia and represents a unique Christian approach to rehabilitating convicted criminals.
- 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.