Where Did Communities of Restoration Come From?
Thirty five years ago, a small group of professionals, business people and retirees in the suburbs of Sao Paolo, Brazil, began visiting prisoners in their city to attend to their medical, psychological, educational, vocational and spiritual needs. For a period of fifteen years they sought an effective approach to prisoner rehabilitation.
The result was the “APAC Methodology”, named after their organization in Brasil, Associacao de Protecao e Assistencia aos Condenados (“Association for Protection and Assistance of Convicts”).
This methodology was so effective that government officials began turning entire prisons over to them to operate. News spread to other countries and the approach has now been adapted and replicated throughout Latin America, in North America, Europe, and the Pacific. Prison Fellowship International refers to APAC and its replications as Communities of Restoration.