Founded in São José dos Campos / SP on July 9, 1995, the journalist and lawyer, Mário Ottoboni, of the Brazilian Fraternity of Assistance to the Convict Persons – FBAC, is a non-profit association, under private law, that brings together, guides, provides training and supervises the Associations of Protection and Assistance to the Convict Persons in addition to advising the application of APAC Method in other countries.

FBAC also acts in the mobilization of municipal, state, federal and international institutions, aiming at the opening of new APACs. This articulation takes place with members of organized civil society, Judiciary, Executive and Legislative Branches, Churches, businessmen, authorities and interested in implementing APACs in their respective districts.

As a vision, FBAC seeks through the APACs, to humanize the fulfillment of custodial sentences, offering to the condemned the conditions to recover themselves also, to protect society, to rescue the victims and to promote Restorative Justice.

APAC, Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicted Persons, in turn, is a civil entity under private law, with its own legal personality, dedicated to the recovery and social reintegration of prisoners to custodial sentences. Born on November 18, 1972, in São José dos Campos (SP), APAC, as well as the FBAC, was also conceived by Dr. Mário Ottoboni and a group of Christian friends, with the aim of alleviating the afflictions experienced by the prison population, family members and the local community.

Composed of 12 fundamental elements, the APAC Method proposes to the prisoner called “recuperando” the opportunity to be co-responsible for its recovery and reintegration into society. In APACs, administered without the participation of the police or prison agents, prisoners themselves hold possession of the keys, and daily activities include work, study, spirituality, human valorization, professional training, mutual help, family integration, and others, making that the methodology presents excellent results. Proof of this, the rate of recidivism, that is, the return to crime, is around 20%, while in the conventional Brazilian system, it is around 85%; and the cost per capita of each prisoner (recuperando) costs only 1/3 to the public coffers compared to the same prisoner in the common prison system. In addition, no rebellions or acts of violence have ever been recorded during its 45 years of existence.

Faced with the greatness and complexity of the work, FBAC and APACs have raised partners as: Court of Justice of Minas Gerais, Maranhão, Paraná, Rio Grande do Norte and Rondônia; State Secretaries of Prison Administration of Minas Gerais, Maranhão, Paraná and Rondônia;  General Attorney of the states listed above; Association of Volunteers for International Service – AVSI Brazil; Minas Pela Paz Institute – IMPP; Prison Fellowship International – PFI; Gruppo Dirigenti FIAT; Isvor; Betania Tanure Associates; Uncle Flávio Cultural; Women’s Group of Brazil; SENAC; among others. 

The main goal of this campaign is to raise the amount of US$200.000,00 , which will be reverted to the construction of the International Center for APAC Method Studies – CIEMA.

This Center will have of great importance in the development of the APAC Method in Brazil and abroad, as it will provide scholars, researchers, volunteers, authorities and society in general with an infrastructure for conducting research, studies and events around the APAC method. There will also be accommodation available for the reception and of national and international visitors who have the desire to deepen in the study and to replicate the Method.

CIEMA will be directly connected to the Center for Justice and Reconciliation of Prison Fellowship International, based in Stuttgart, Germany, and other universities around the world, in order to establish partnerships so that more and more people can learn about the methodology, disseminate it and implement it in their cities.

We would like to count on your valiant collaboration with our campaign because you will certainly be contributing to the rescue and recovery of lives, leading to a safer and more peaceful society for all. Come and join us! Collaborate with us!