Offender-friendly prisons, less costly, better results

In the month of June, 70 detainees celebrated the six year anniversary of a new Social Reintegration Center in the city of Nova Lima, in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The center has been nicknamed a humanist penitentiary, it adopts the APAC, or Association for the Protection and Assistance to Offenders – methodology, a detainment center with no security agents, where inmates, who are described as ‘recovering’, go through a busy schedule of activities and have the keys to the front door.

The method was originally conceived in 1972 by Mário Ottoboni, an attorney from São Paulo, as a way to extend the work of the catholic initiative, with the goal of diminishing the constant break out of rebellions in the public penitentiary of São José dos Campos in São Paulo state. The association became a private entity that works in partnership with the Judiciary system two years later.

APAC offers conditions to foster the recovery of offenders and help them re-engage with society, so that offenders understand their value. Society in turn, gains with the lowered indices of recidivism.  The method was most successfully received in the city of Itaúna, Minas Gerais, where the first center was installed as a response to the constant prison rebellions.
The concept of more humane jails has been strongly supported by the Minas Gerais Court of Justice through its Novos Rumos (new directions) Project for penal execution, that began in 2001 and recommended the APAC method.

Currently there are approximately 50 entities that use the APAC methodology in Minas Gerais state. A few of them have their own premises, such as in Nova Lima and in Itaúna, others adopted the method in parts of the regular corrections system. In Brazil there are currently approximately 100 APAC units. Other 19 countries have already implanted the method, among them the United States, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Norway, Australia, Germany, England, South Korea, Singapore, and others.

A photographer's perspective

Invited to create the pictures for an APAC booklet for the Minas Gerais Court of Justice, photographer Rodrigo Albert got to know what was at the time one of the first units, in Itaúna.
Eight years later, Rodrigo Albert plans to launch a book of photographs, a documentary and an exhibition that will be launched in France next month, that he named “Inserção” (Insertion), a work that records the images of prisoners in prisons that adopted the APAC method.
“I wanted to help, but did not know how. Then I realized that photography was already helping. That I could, through it, divulge the method and still show those people through art,” said Albert. “I wanted to show inmates in a new way. Prison is a theme that has been widely explored, but I wanted to bring it back to life, “ said Albert.

To get closer to the lives of the inmates, Rodrigo spent the night at a cell with 33 ‘recovering’ inmates. He tells us that at first he was scared. “At APAC there are no prison guards, and I was frightened at the novelty of it all, “he admits. But a little later he was able to overcome the panic by thinking through the situation. In his photos, inmates are shown though vibrant colors, shown positively.

Support from town hall, from the community

High court judge and Novos Rumos Project Coordinator Joaquim Alves de Andrade is an enthusiast of the method. Heading the project for the past 9 years, Andrade says that while the State spends approximately 2000.00 Reals a month on a regular prisoner, Apac spends approximately 375.00 Reals per detainee. One of the secrets, in his words, is volunteer work of the community. “We do not spend on security, the administration is done by volunteers, we receive donations in the form of clothing, food and the detainees themselves contribute through their work,” said Andrade.
And results are successful. According to data from Novos Rumos, recidivism rates never rise above 10% in the Apac detainment centers, versus 80% for the regular corrections system. Joaquim Alves believes the secret of such success is the method: “it is very unlikely that a detainee that comes here will commit a crime again. He learns to transform himself, from a criminal into a citizen. APAC is more like a school than a penitentiary,” said Alves.

The association uses a 12 step program: participation in the community; mutual help among detainees; detainee work; religious worship; legal aid; health care; valuing human life; job training; a well balanced diet; proximity with families; it also encourages volunteer work; placing centers near the homes of detainees; sentencing regime progression and holds an annual meeting with lectures and the testimonies of religious experiences.

Open to all

The APAC is open to all offenders, regardless of their crimes. The centers have distinct areas for those offenders who are in full internment regimes, apart from those in other sentencing regimes. Offenders are placed together or not according to their rights and privileges.

The centers fully comply with Brazil’s Penal Execution Law (Lei de Execução Penal, LEP), in all its articles. According to Perla Saliba Brito, substitue judge at Nova Lima, veteran inmates in the regular prison system are selected through an interview process. “If psychologists feel that the inmate is up to following disciplinary rules and that he wants to work and to be free from policing, he is transferred to the Apac,” said Brito.

Merely being accepted into the Apac does not however, mean that the new inmate will stay there for the remainder of his sentence. APAC maintains the punitive character of sentencing. To guarantee their permanence, detainees have to follow many rules and earn points. According to M.B., who has been there for five years, there are strict schedules for waking up, sleeping, hygiene routines, work, study, and going to therapy. Nicknames and slang are not allowed. “We left all the humiliations we suffered in the past behind us. We even avoid talking about the crimes we committed. We look ahead of us,” said MB.

APAC stimulates self discipline and self regulation, it is a demanding process that requires intense dedication, prisoners are asked to accept responsibilities, develop the skills necessary to live in groups, and to take part in educational and religious activities. There is the Sincerity and Solidarity Council (CSS) made up of other inmates and members of the administration of the house, who analyze detainee faults and merits. Sentencing is enforced by the CSS who pass on the relevant information for the presiding judge.

New arrivals go through a period of probation. If they fail to adapt to the rules of the house they are transferred back to the regular corrections system. “This happens when there is drug abuse for example,” said Perla Brito. “When we are told that some detainees in an open custody regime with outside jobs were doing drugs, I put them back in a penitentiary,” said Brito. Prisoners must, in her view, learn to appreciate the method. “It’s the best place to serve a prison sentence in Brazil, it’s the light at the end of the tunnel,“ Brito said.

W.L., serving his sentence for a year and a month agrees. “In the regular jails, our minds are a mess. When you get here, you are free. People note the difference right away. There is no comparison. This takes you out of crime,” he said. W.L. never thought of running away: “it is my mind that keeps me detained here, and I want change myself,” he said.

R.L.T. had a similar experience. According to him, at the APAC, prisoners learn the values that they had lost track of in their lives. “When we arrive here from the regular corrections system, our minds are completely polluted. I turned my values around completely, I am restructuring myself,” he said.

R. was sentenced for allowing an illegal vehicle dismantling business to exist in his garage. He now does woodwork at the center making wood trucks and toy cars that earned him a number of prizes. “I am helping to build all that I helped to dismantle,” he says. In the future, he intends to open a woodworking business to teach the know-how he learned at the APAC. “I discovered this talent I never imagined I had,” R said.

Overcoming hostility

Not all has been rosy at the APAC however. W.J, who has been detained for 14 years recalls how difficult it was to stay centered in the first few years: the land was donated by town hall and a few private businesses helped to build the center, but it was a challenge to guarantee maintenance. “In the beginning it was so bad we actually went hungry. The community did not want us here. They thought we were no more than a big jail,” W.J. Elva Cantero, public attorney, agrees: “when we, from the judiciary, introduced the idea of creating an APAC here, we were almost physically attacked in a public event,” said Cantero.

APAC has nevertheless been fruitful and today the State Office for Social Defense (Secretaria de Estado e Defesa Social, Seds) helps pay employees and town hall pitches in with water and electricity in exchange for six thousand loaves of bread produced by inmates and sold to local hospitals and schools. The community around the APAC contributes with clothing, food supplies and volunteers, which are the foundation of the method. “We are on our way to sustainability” said Magna Lóis, president of the APAC.

Apart from the bakery, the center will also have a license plate factory for inmates in open custody. Closed custody inmates contribute with cleaning services and work-therapy, since when initiating their sentences they are given activities that aid reflection.

C.D.C., who has been serving his sentence for a year and is now in the open custody regime, says he is taking advantage of the opportunities offered. “I am learning to live a life of dignity. When I was in jail, I had only two thoughts in my head, to use drugs, and to use the cell phone. Now that has changed. I want to take job training courses. I want to break the ice between the penitentiary and society. I want to make a difference.” He said.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi