Communities Of Restoration Project Reports

Provides descriptions of Communities of Restoration (APAC) programmes around the world.

He Korowai Whakapono – Annual Report – October 2005 – June 2007

Report from the PF New Zealand faith-based Unit He Korowai Whakapono after 3 years and 8 months of operation.

Youth Farm “Seehaus”

The Youth Farm "Seehaus" was created by PF Germany in 2003.

APAC Transition

Handout prepared by PF Queensland to inform people in their state about APAC.

Introduction to the Implementation of the APAC Method at the Prison Units of Entre Rios

The APAC Method consists of a complex set of elements that, when applied as a unit and programmed sequentially, leads to the development of a program that causes profound change in the hearts of the inmates who desire this change.

APAC in QUEENSLAND : A work in progress

A report to the Prison Fellowship Australia National Conference, October 2001. by Martin Howard, Chairman, QLD APAC Committee

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative™: A Christian Prison Community

IFI holds great promise for prisons throughout America and the world. This paper outlines the philosophy and underlying principles of The InnerChange Freedom Initiative. The program is very different from many other rehabilitative programs that have come before.

Site Description: Humaita

This prison model goes back to November 1972, when Dr Mario Ottoboni, a devout Christian and lawyer employed by the Sao Jose dos Campos City Council, heard what he believed was God’s voice telling him to help the prisoners in the local prison which housed men, women and young persons. A member of Cursillo, a Catholic laymen’s association, Dr Mario shared this with other Cursillo members, and they began visiting the prisoners, who were housed in appalling and overcrowded conditions.

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”.

Site Description: Quito and Guayaquil

Since its inception in 1984, Confraternidad Carcelaria del Ecuador (CCE) has concentrated its efforts along the following: (a.) evangelisation in order to reach as many of the prisoners as possible, and (b.) CCE has developed its own distinct APAC Method, based on the Brazilian APAC Model.

Site Description: Arequipa Prison

A Prison Fellowship Arequipa project, based on the APAC Brasil method. CCSA is part of the “Pastoral Penitenciaria”, the Prison Pastoral ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Arequipa. CCSA operates as a unit within the Socobaya male adult high security prison.

Site Description: Houston InnerChange Freedom Initiative

This prototype site opened on April 21 1997 with 25 inmates. IFI is a Unit within the Jester II 400 bed prison compound, which is a “trustee” camp with the lowest custody (security) level of prison inmates. IFI is a joint effort of Prison Fellowship Ministries, Houston Texas area churches and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Modelled on the APAC Prison in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brasil that was founded in 1973, the groundwork was laid by Texas Governor George Bush’s Advisory Task Force on Faith Based Community Service Groups, (See December 1996, Executive Summary, “FAITH IN ACTION: A New Vision for Church-State Cooperation in Texas”).

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: Iowa InnerChange Freedom Initiative

This is PF USA’s second replication using the name InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI). PF USA opened its first IFI Unit in Houston, Texas, in April 1997. Operating from Unit ‘E’ at the Newton Correctional Facility (NCF), situated 35 miles east of Des Moines, IFI Iowa occupies part of the NCF, a long term, medium security, male prison, with a total population of around 750 inmates.

Site Description: Kansas InnerChange Freedom Initiative

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) Kansas program commenced on March 31st 2000, as a separate unit within the WCF facility, with its first ‘student’1 group of 47 volunteers, some of whom turned down their Parole in order to join. It is the third Prison Fellowship U.S.A. replication of the APAC concept first introduced in Brasil in 1972, and later in Ecuador and Peru.

Inside Out. The Newsletter of Prison Fellowship New Zealand. December 2003.

This issue of the Inside Out Newsletter features article on the new faith-based unit opened by PF New Zealand as well as the other work of the ministry.

Resolving Conflict and Restoring Relationships: Experiments in Community Justice within a New Zealand Faith-Based Unit

In October 2004, a faith-based prison unit was opened at Rimutaka Prison, near Wellington, New Zealand, being a joint Department of Corrections and Prison Fellowship of New Zealand programme that promotes peace and reconciliation. The model of biblical peace making, and processes for 'conflict resolution and the restoration of community peace, presents both staff and inmates with conflicts in terms of established disciplinary procedures, and the impact of 'prisonisation' on inmates. The introduction of a victim-offender program (the Sycamore Tree program) further reinforces the consequences of crime and the harm to victims. The paper explores the role of restorative justice in prisons, and the applicability of "best practise" restorative justice principles and practises within an institutional setting. It also examines the implications of this model for inmate family/whänau restoration, and victim/offender reconciliation. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of this model for the wider correctional system.

Lives in Transition From custody to community: An initiative of Prison Fellowship Australia - Victoria

Lives in Transition (LIT) is a new innovative approach to the problem of recidivism in Victoria. It takes a holistic approach to the issues facing prisoners in the transition from custody to community thereby recognising the need to fully address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the inmate. Lives in Transition grew out of faith based programs developed by national Prison Fellowship ministries around the world. Primarily it is based on the InnerChange program initiated by Prison Fellowship in the USA and the Transition of Prisoners program based in Detroit.

LIVES IN TRANSITION

A volunteer mentoring program of Prison Fellowship providing transitional support from custody to community