National Affiliates and CORS

Learn more about the work of PF national organisations and Communities of Restoration.

An Outcome Evaluation of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative. (2012) Minnesota Department of Corrections.

From the Evaluation report from the Minnesota Department of Corrections: The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) recently completed an outcome evaluation of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (InnerChange), a faith-based prisoner reentry program. The evaluation assessed the impact of InnerChange on recidivism among 732 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2009. The average follow-up period for the 732 offenders was a little more than three years.

"Everything" by the IFI drama team

Presentation from the drama team from the InnerChange Freedom Initiative programme in Lino Lakes, Minnesota.

APAC Nova Lima Receives National Recognition

On 15 December 2011, Judge Juarez Morais de Azevedo received an honourable mention award from the Prêmio Innovare for his work with APAC Nova Lima in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The national award recognises and disseminates information about innovative practises in the Brazilian justice system.

APAC Costa Rica

Recently, PF Costa Rica completed an evaluation of the success toward meeting the goals set out in the 2011 operational plan for the APAC in the Centro Semi Institucional San Augustín in the province of Heredia. Their purpose was to identify needed adjustments going into 2012.

Angel Tree 2011 -- IFI Texas

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Texas hosted a Christmas party for the children on participating prisoners in December 2011.

Creating Business Plans for a Better Future in Texas

The InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) at the Carol Vance Unit in Richmond Texas offers participants many opportunities to build habits and skills to help them reintegrate into their communities. Among these is the Business Plan Competition, now in its eighth year.

Update from PF Germany

In September, PF Germany celebrated the 8th anniversary for its Seehaus Leonberg programme for young offenders aged 14 to 23. Close to 1000 people attended the “Day of the Offender 2011” event with representatives from both the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches speaking. Other speakers included the previous and current Justice Ministers of Baden Wurttemberg state, the Mayor of Leonberg and a national television presenter.

InnerChange Freedom Initiative: Inmates Ready for Business

Prisoners in the PF US InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Texas learn to develop business plans for developing small businesses when they leave prison.

New report on reincarceration rates of IFI Texas graduates

In April, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice released a report highlighting the two- and three-year recidivism rates of prisoners who completed one of nine different rehabilitation programmes during the 2007 fiscal year, including the Innerchange Freedom Initiative (IFI). With one exception, each of the programmes showed lower recidivism rates compared to a matched comparison group.

Blog gives voice to APAC recuperandos

In March, a Master’s student volunteering in APAC-Viçosa launched a blog featuring articles by recuperandos in the closed regime. By doing so, Luana Gerçossimo Oliveira hopes to “demystify” the figure of the recuperando for the general public by showing how respectful and receptive to learning they are. The idea grew out of a weekly writing workshop that she offered to the recuperandos at Viçosa.

Legisladores Brasileños se Movilizan para Apoyar las APAC

El 5 de abril de 2011, un grupo de legisladores Federales lanzaron el Frente Parlamentario en defensa de las comunidades terapéuticas, “Acholherodas” (Acojedoras, esto es, comunidades de rehabilitación para drogadictos) y las APAC. El grupo de 289 diputados y 23 senadores buscan crear un debate público sobre las necesidades de rehabilitación para aquellos en la prisión y que están luchando contra drogadicción. Planean presentar una serie completa de propuestas para la ayuda gubernamental a esos programas.

Promoting APAC in Bolivia

In December 2010, PF Bolivia joined its partner organization Progettomundo MLAL for a conference on restorative juvenile justice. The objective was to promote alternative models of working with juvenile offenders. To this end, PF Bolivia coordinated the participation of Dr. Paulo Carvalho, PF Brazil board chairperson, to provide an overview of the APAC methodology.

IFI Day with Dad Programme

This short video presents the voices of prisoners in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative and their children in describing the "Day with Dad" programme.

Evaluation of the Faith Based Unit and Target Communities programme.

From the evaluation prepared by Strategic Analysis & Research, Department of Corrections (New Zealand): An evaluation was undertaken recently by Strategy, Policy and Planning on the Faith-based Unit (FBU) at Rimutaka Prison and the associated “Target Communities” (TC) programme that assists prisoners with community reintegration.

Inside Rimutaka's faith-based unit

From the article by Nikki MacDonald in the Dominion Post: It's a topsy-turvy world where a killer is held up as a role model of morality, Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangsters sit tattoo to tattoo and talk about their feelings and the weapon of choice for settling scores is the gospel according to St Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15 to 17.

PF New Zealand’s Faith-based Unit

Te Korowa Whakapono — the PF New Zealand faith-based unit that opened in October 2003— seeks to reduce offending of the 60 individuals involved in the programme at any one time. Along with the Operation Jericho aftercare programme, the unit provides a therapeutic and restorative community built on Christian principles and practices to provide effective rehabilitation and reintegration.

Latin American Seminar about APAC

From 21 to 23 September, PF Brazil hosted a seminar on the APAC methodology for representatives from Prison Fellowships in four Latin American countries. Staff and volunteers provided instruction on the methodology while recuperando— the name used for prisoners in APAC— talked about their experiences in this unique prison.

APAC: Brazil’s Restorative Justice Prisons

From the blog entry from Lorrenn Walker: On July 5 & 6, 2010, I visited two APAC prisons (Associacao de Protecao e Assistencia aos Condenados in English translated as: Association for Protection and Assistance of Convicts) in the city of Itauna, state of Minas Gerias, Brazil. The original APAC prison, which was in San Paulo, Brazil was reportedly the “first contemporary prison” to totally apply a faith-based approach to all parts of prison administration. (See: “Prison Religion: Faith Based reform and the Constitution”, Sullivan, 2009, emphasis in the original, p. 247).

Describing a Community of Restoration

I recently received a PowerPoint presentation from PF New Zealand used to describe the ministry's faith-based unit. The presentation describes various aspects of the programme including the environment:

PF Brazil Signs Agreement with the Government of Minas Gerais

In late June, PF Brazil signed a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Social Defence of the State of Minas Gerais.