Unguarded

UNGUARDED takes us inside the walls of APAC, the revolutionary Brazilian prison system centered on the full recovery and rehabilitation of the person.

Beginning in 1972, APAC founder Dr. Mario Ottoboni volunteered in some of Brazil’s worst prisons. Seeing men and women frequently return to a life of crime once they left prison, Dr. Ottoboni decided to found his own restorative justice-based system. The results have been extraordinary: while the crime rate and recidivism rates have continued to increase in Brazil’s public prisons, they have steadily decreased within the APAC (Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts) system.

UNGUARDED explores the unique method behind this system, now present in twenty-three countries across four continents. Observing the daily lives of the “recuperandos” (recovering inmates) who live and work there, we see firsthand why—as one inmate puts it—”no one escapes from love.”

Filmmaker: Simonetta D’Italia Wiener