GFX 1: A prison full of hard inmates

GFX 2: A prison where criminals crochet

GFX 3: A prison with weddings

PRISON WITH NO LOCKS

São João del Rei  - Brazil

I’m in the state of Minera Gervis, Brazil

I’m about to spend a week inside a Brazilian prison…with robbers, rapists and killers.

But this is no ordinary jail.

This jail is called APAC and it aims to reform prisoners – it’s very different to normal jails designed to punish.

SUB REEL 2

00:00:29:12     00:00:32:24

I was sentenced to jail for 24 years

and six months

00:00:40:07     00:00:45:03

and I have the keys to the front door.

It’s the inmates who decide if they come… or go

00:00:45:07     00:00:48:13

If I wanted to run away, I could do it.

But I want to be here.  To rehabilitate and to return to society.

Romulo is a former solider, after being caught repairing gangsters guns, he was sent to one of Brazil’s notoriously overcrowded and violent mainstream jail.

D3C2 @ [00:55:30] - [00:55:41]    If you’re not a criminal when you go in, you will be one when you come out.

45.03 – 45.24

I was in prison for a month and 12 days, left, went home again. Only instead of learning a lesson… I started to commit other crimes again. 

Once outside, gang rivals tried to kill him… twice.

In retribution, he killed one of them … and was sentenced to 24 years for murder.

But in April last year, a judge decided to give him a chance – and sent him to APAC.

D3C2 @ 00:55:26]  - [00:55:41] 

It's hard to say who I would be today if APAC didn't exist. 

D3C2 @ 01:21:34:00

EW: if you’d stayed in the main stream prison – what would you have done to the man that shot you?

Yes I’d kill them all, I’d kill them all. No pitty. No mercy.

00:39:24] – 39:41 EVAN: What's in here?   

Romulo: It's a schoolroom. Here the teachers give their classes.

Is it part of the school?  Good morning!

Here are the teachers. The teachers. Here you have to study .

In APAC education is compulsory

So is belief in some form of faith…

Upsot: Praying

But inmates must also take responsibility for each other.

If they see someone breaking a rule - they are encouraged to intervene.

In a normal prison that would be considered ratting – here it’s a cornerstone to their recovery as citizens able to return to society.

UPSOT: Inmates chatting

That means there are no prison guards.

Inmates do all the work - which means these jails cost a quarter of what it does to run a normal jail.

UPSOT@ 01:16:52:00

unlocking and walking into cell

Each day inmates perform their own cell inspection, checking for anything illegal but also for cleanliness.

The cleanest gets a trophy – the untidiest, a pig

Inmate 2: [01:19:27] This is my dormitory. 

Inmate 2: [01:19:51] Don't be too severe in the inspection. 

Inmate 1: [01:19:54] Leave it with me

Inmate 1: [01:26:26] – 01:26:35

The mirror should be in here and the drawer proper, like this. See? 

Inmate 1: [01:20:06]  He passed. It's good, more or less

Inmate 2: hahahaha

The prison runs on strict rules and it’s the prisoners who enforce them.

Today Carmelio is accused of abusing an inmate.

Carmélio: [00:47:30]  - 47:47 (passage)

He did it first! And without your knowledge.  He did it!

If found guilty he could lose privileges like watching TV

Carmelio is almost half way through a 22 year sentence for … murdering a man.

[01:16:52]  - 01:17:04 Look, nature... we are free here.

Normally he’d be held in high security

Yet here he can just walk out the prison gates any time he likes

01:23:07] – 01:23:15

here is very rare indeed for someone to run away. Very rare to flee.

[01:19:15]  - 01:19:38

Look around, what a big world, and there is nothing to prevent you from doing a shit thing, see?

I think we need to reflect, in order to fix the mistakes we made. 

Carmelio tells me it’s the responsibility given to prisoners here that changes their mindset

UPSOT: 01:24:32] – 01:24:36 here is where I work These are the breeding mum pigs

UPSOT [01:24:59] – 01:25:11

We care for them, vaccinate, desex (castrate) and we slaughter them for APAC needs.

[01:37:04]  For you to be a good recovered person you have to think a lot before doing a foolish thing.  Also, if I do foolish things, my wife, that little but brave woman, would hit me. (Laughs)  Let's go ! ( walks off)

Open prisons aren’t a new concept, but they ARE controversial.

Where else could a convicted murderer be left in charge of raising - and slaughtering – pigs.

***[01:50:29] I came out with an enemy of mine at 5 am, still dark, to slaughter pigs.  I had a knife, a tomahawk (a little axe) in my hand, everything at hand.  I could easily have him killed but it doesn't cross my mind anymore.  Thank God. 

Right above APAC is the main prison.

it serves as a daily reminder of the horrors they have left behind

D1C2 @  01:41:11] – 00:41:26:11  In a place like that your mind only thinks about getting out and commit more crimes. 

[01:47:31] – 01:47:48

There you don't learn anything.  You learn disarray. To smoke drugs, to fight. It’s a situation where there is no comparison to the paradise that is APAC.

Today 30 prisoners have JUST arrived at APAC from the main jail 

[00:27:05] – 00:27:00

They are the newcomers. 

- Reporter: A new guy? 

Many are bewildered – some are grey from lack of sunlight, a few are shaking in withdrawal.

DAY 3 C2 @ [01:17:48]  - 01:18:02:00

The newcomers arrive here with a negative expression, with a bad smell from the prison system, a sewage smell, a mould smell.

Day2 C1 @ 00:35:14:13

Evan; was it very violent at the prison?

[00:35:38] – 00:35:58

Guy 1: I was slapped on my head, kicked on my legs. Shoutings, squatting, taking your clothes off. It's too much humiliation.

Guy 2: Before I was to come to APAC, I was being seen as someone to be beaten.

D2 C2***[00:40:08] – 00:40:33   Everybody coming from there is spiritually defeated. By the oppression. Their self-esteem is on the ground. As if they were rotting behind bars. As if they were dying. When they arrive here, in two days you see their light shining again

All the inmates told us drugs are rife in the main prison

UPSOT:  hey, for all the new comers, we need to you to come to the hall for a few minutes

One of the immediate challenges for the existing inmates is to help the newcomers get clean.

UPSOT:[01:37:50] – 01:38:03:03 Good morning, everyone.

I'm here to talk to you a bit about my story at APAC.  I was the first person in recovery here in São João del Rei.

Ernani Navare has been in APAC longer than anyone

01:38:15:24 – 01:38:25:20

I was a drug addict.  Thank God for a long time now I'm free from crack, which was my torment.

D1 C1 UPSOT FROM SPEECH 01:40:34:00 -01:40:52

AC will teach you how you are going to transform yourselves again.  It won't recover you because it's not enough for me to tell you "I'm already recovered".  I haven’t recovered completely.  I'm in a process of recovery.

Upsot: People clapping and leaving room

MUSIC START

Ernanis serving 28 years for a string of armed violent armed robberies that fed his former addiction to crack.

[00:13:36] -13:49:10

I got involved very young. There was a gang hiding inside my mother's home. Being an alcoholic herself, she accepted it because she was getting some income.

SPACE – MUSIC STING

E00.13.08 EW What did you think when you first came in here from the common system?

14:02 – 14 21 For me, it was amazing. To come here and to find all of this and suddenly I'm wearing normal clothes, no uniform. For me this was... I said "Hey, this place is for me. This is the place I need."

00:09:47 – 00:10:08

in the main prison you eat

with plastic containers. You don't have a knife, you don't have a fork, you don't have a glass, to eat with dignity, to feed yourself.

These things, at the main prison, for them,

they become a weapon. For me, in there,

it was a weapon. 

[00:14:15] Here is where I realised that I have to be a better man because there are people who trust me.

The judge who put most of these men here – wasn’t so quick to trust inmates or the APAC system

[01:03:23:00] – 01:03:31:00  For me, it was absurd a kind of prison where the prisoners themselves had the key to the entrance door

Judge Neves is now one of APACs biggest fans.

D3C1 @ 00:58:59] – 59:05  At APAC, the system is different. 

D3C1 @ [01:26:11] -01:26:16 People leave here with more opportunities in society than those leaving the prison system.

D3C1 @ 59:35 - 59:42 showing that they have responsibility, we can set them free. 

He admits APAC only works with the main jail system as a deterrent.

sub reel 3 @ 00:01:32:16-

The prison system is necessary

for the existence of the APAC system

because nobody can say

they’re in heaven without knowing hell.

The next day Judge Neves agrees to take us to hell.

D6 C1@ [00:01:08] We're going to the Regional Prison of São João del Rei,

 [00:03:07]  - 03:14:19

You've been at APAC, which we call "the purgatory". Now you'll see what we could call "the hell", the prison.

D6 C1 @ [00:06:44] -06:59

We have 262 places for a population of 650 inmates here, in this unit. That's it, more than double. More than two inmates for each place.

AT ROUGHLY 720,000 INMATES BRAZIL HAS THE 3^RD LARGEST PRISON POPULATION IN THE WORLD.

AND AT 172% CAPACITY, THE SYSTEM IS AT BREAKING POINT

UPSOT: riot file vis

IN THE LAST 2 YEARS, OVER 500 INMATES HAVE BEEN KILLED IN 11 SEPARATE RIOTS… ALL IN PRISONS LIKE THE ONE WE ARE ABOUT TO VISIT.

D6C1 @ [00:07:03]  - 07:11:22. Whenever I come here and I hear this gate slamming – you’ll hear the thunderous sound.

D6C1 @ 00:07:18:18 – 07:31:00 Then I imagine someone we give a 10, 15 year sentence entering here -  It's something that stays in their mind.

D6C1 @ [00:07:59 – 08:07:01]

 This is the sound, this is the sound, check it out. (Slams the gate) This is what keeps ringing in our ears.

In stark contrast to APAC -  We are immediately struck by the completely closed cells, they are dark and overcrowded…. and there’s an overwhelming feeling of extreme control

[00:13:59]  - 14:20

JUDGE NEVES

The system here is quite different. A closed system, much more vigilance as you could see, people are always escorted, Here he doesn't move around freely. Every place he goes, he has an escort of at least two penitentiary agents

Most prisoners are allowed out of their cells for two hours sunshine daily.

The rest of the time they are locked down.

[00:19:54] – 20:00  There are four wings with many cells, many departments.

D6C1 @   [00:20:36] – 20:41

 Here there is the closed and the semi open system. They can't go out. These ones here can't go out at all.

Those hand signs mean…. these cells are full.

[00:51:47] – 51.54There aren't beds for everyone. Some of them sleep with their mattresses on the floor.

[00:50:43]  Sixty.

-  Sixty inmates in this cell, inside there.

They’re at attention.

It means that when the guards arrive, they move to the back of the cells and stand up straight to allow this visit to happen.

[00:54:27]  JUDGE:

Would be safe for them to enter in there?

SECURITY: No.

SECURITY: No, it wouldn't. That's fine.

Where there’s limited space to sleep, there’s even less opportunities to gain skills - which means virtually no chance of reform.

34:48 EVAN: Here its voluntary … the schooling?

[00:34:55] -00:34:59

No, not here. They are selected, as we don't have enough places for all inmates, because it's still a small school

00:35:21:06 – 00:35:25:10

We have 650 inmates and 91 students.

Those who’ve committed sexual crimes or are members of rival gangs are kept separate.

00:57:50] – 00:58:07

For this reason they have to be kept apart. At APAC, this separation is forbidden. It's the opposite, to encourage people to be together, to live well together. Here this is not possible

UPSOT: [01:05:16]  - 01:05:29:00

Judge: I thought you were gone, man!

Inmate: Still here.

Whilst the strict protcols in this jail are designed to dominate and punish inmates.

Judge: Looks like you enjoy being here, man.

Inmate: Not the case.

Judge: (Laughs). That's fine. Good morning to you all, okay?

I want to know if the lure of trust and freedom at APAC has any bearing on these hardened criminals.

[00:16:12] – 00:16:29:00

 Nowadays, APAC is a system that helps us a lot. Why? Because every inmate who aims to go to APAC has to have good behavior here. If he doesn't have good behavior here, he doesn't have the privilege of going to APAC

In prisons like this the repeat offending rate is around 80%

Globally in open prisons its 20%

But here in APAC, Judge Neves says it’s closer to 5%

APAC can’t solve all the criminal justice problems in Brazil – but this radical approach IS reforming inmates …

But there are those who say APAC – is not the perfect reform model.

D5C1 @ 27:45 they are using the law to force these people to be morally perfect.

Criminal lawyer Barbara Furtado completed an extensive study of APAC – her main concern was its emphasis on faith.

D5C1 @50:10 they are forcing people to believe- you have to have a religion that the point, you have to believe in something

D5C1 @ 50:19 Okay you can believe in whatever you want but ..you have to pray before you eat, you have to pray before you sleep, you have to pray as soon as you wake up. So they are not so open.

 [00:50:33] E: And what happens to them if they don't pray?

[00:50:35] B: They are penalised.

Upsot: walk and talk

D5C1 @ [01:22:01]  APAC is a light in the middle of a medieval system they are not the solution, but they are the start

Upsot: Hallelujah

For some prisoners though, religion offers a way out of their lives of crime

01:14:28:00

Ev: Reinaldo why are you getting your hair done today?

[01:14:53 - 01:15:28]

For the wedding ceremony to present myself looking better to my wife

D2C1 @ [01:24:21] – 01:24:49:00

A dignified wedding, a wedding as we want it to be, a respectful wedding.

[01:15:50 – 01:16:12:23

You're invited, it will be an honor.

In this prison the focus is on reform

Prisoners get a second chance at life... and they also get a second chance at love.

Talk of the wedding is creating excitement

UPSOT: D1C2 @ 01:00:45:00

Hello Australia – I love you , I love you

This former drug trafficker is even creating a romantic surprise in the prison’s intimate suite.

Day 3 C1 34:29 @ 34:54 -  I'm decorating the intimate room for a friend of mine who's getting married today.  I used to do that for my wife, and I know that the women like it, don't they

UPSOT: putting balloons on

It’s where the newlyweds will honeymoon.

It’s not a 5 star hotel - but compared to the common prison, its paradise.

D3C2 @ 01:23:03:00 – 01:23:08

OLD GUY: Look at the guys suit! Are you seeing this!? How awesome!

Evan: looking really good

Although he still has a few years to serve

The suitably be-suited groom walks out of his jail … And in to the rest of his life

D2C1 @ [01:20:14] – 01:20:34:18

 In the common system it would never have happened and it will never happen

***[01:18:58] I feel good here knowing that there are people who really still believe in me, on my rehabilitation, and I don't want to disappoint them.

WEDDING UPSOT NEEDED

One thing most inmates want above all is a return to family…

And every Sunday, every family is encouraged to come and see their incarcerated loved ones.

Sarah is Romulo’s wife.

Every week she brings him news of the two teenage daughters he is desperate to return to home to

UPSOT: Meeting ROM

UPSOT ROM MEETING SARAH

D4C1 @ 00:06:20:00

[00:37:44] – 38:07  I'm paying for this, yes.  But I'm not paying alone. My family is paying with me. My wife is always coming to visit me. Walking with me, while I'm jailed, she's jailed.

This hangs heavy on me. My family. My family is everything. It's the foundation for everything.

****00;22;09;50 – 00:22:43:00

Well, when he was in the prison he was, very aggressive, if messing up with him anything would make him explosive. If someone talked to him in a way he didn’t like, his will was to beat up that person.

D4C2 @ 00:26:00:22 – 00:26:14:12

But after going to APAC, he changed. He is another Romulo, a Romulo that understands.

He tells me he’s changed. And that’s what we hope for. Let’s wait.

Carmelios wife is here as well

As is Ernani’s family.

Family day for his son also means a haircut from his dad.

Upsot walking into a room at prison.

ERNANIS SON

01;04;06;00 – 01:04:08

The only one who can cut my hair is my dad.

ERNANIS WIFE

01:02:08:23 – 01:02:26:14

I feel happy, like this, my son wanting his dad close to him. This moment is wonderful for me.

ERNANI – cutting hair

01:00:56:00 - - 01:01:11:29

It means a lot to me. It makes me want to improve my life, be a better person to be a better father for them.

D2 C2  @ [00:45:19] – 45:38:24

 To feel the love from my family again, things that I couldn't feel for many years in my life. When my wife arrives, I can see her smiling at me, saying that she loves me. My children shout very loud. They are not my own children but they adore me,

[00:45:43] – 45:57  They are proud of me. This makes me a better man. It's an incentive, it's my day-to-day fuel.

D2C2 @ 00:52:35:25 Evan: What do you most regret about the type of life you have chosen?

D2C2 @ [00:42:00] -00:42:14:00

I regret not having been the son that my mother needed. Because she's an alcoholic and I... in the world of crime? There was no way of having a good outcome from this

SUB REEL 3 @ 19:19 - 19:22

I couldn’t keep the promise

while she lived. But I believe she’s up there looking at me and she’s proud of me right now.

It’s our last day and inmates gather round to give us a surprise send off …

… I never thought I’d find myself dancing in a Brazilian prison…

Upsot: singing and drumming

In an age when most prisons seem only able to punish, there may be lessons in Brazil’s prison experiment for everyone

Evan: Thank you

ROMULO: need to translate

DAY3C2 @ 005600 - [00:56:30]  - 56:51

APAC shows you the other side.  Shows you how to be a man, a dignified person, an honest person.  If I had stayed in the prison system all this time, and left it without having been at APAC, I think that I would be a monster today. I wouldn't have left anything behind.