Paolo Found Forgiveness

Paolo was transferred to an APAC in Brazil to complete his prison sentence. An APAC is an alternative prison model that aims to provide better conditions and opportunities for the rehabilitation of prisoners. Soon after arriving, he was invited by fellow recuperandos* to participate in The Prisoner’s Journey, and he gladly accepted.

He shared, “It was very important to me to be part of this program and journey because it tells the story of a prisoner who suffered, was rejected, massacred, and excluded from society. That prisoner is called Jesus Christ.” Throughout the eight-week course, Paolo realized how much he related to and understood Christ’s story. He knew what it was like to be rejected by society and to suffer. “But that doesn’t matter because I now know that, even in prison, there is someone by my side who gives me strength.”

There was one Bible verse in particular that resonated with Paolo, Matthew 25:36 – I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. “This verse showed me how much Jesus is by my side, helping me through various people,” he reflected.  “They support us, give us the strength to continue fighting every day, showing me that I still have hope. Through The Prisoner’s Journey, I learned that just as Jesus won the world, I am also capable of winning. The course has helped me to see what I did not see, which is that there is a God who has already forgiven me and who suffered to pay the price for me. I loved the course.”

In fact, Paolo loved the course so much that he is now training to become a facilitator for The Prisoner’s Journey within APAC Alfenas. He plans to help other offenders find the same forgiveness and hope that he experienced.

* A recuperando is an offender assigned to an APAC. Recuperando means recovering.