Entrepreneurs from the state of Espírito Santo are financing Christian literature for inmates in prison units in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is estimated that this year alone, more than 1000 copies of the book The Great Controversy by Adventist pioneer, Ellen White, will be distributed. The delivery has already begun and involves committed pastors who work also serve as evangelists or in Publishing Ministries.

Brazil’s National Book Day, honoring its national library was founded in 1810. Since the 1960s, October 29 has been set aside to encourage reading in Brazil. Reading is capable of freeing the imagination in any circumstance, even inside a prison.

Through the Publishing Ministries, the Libertos (Freedom) Project has become familiar to many of Life Institute's consultants. These professionals go from company to company offering educational content and personal and spiritual development in several places throughout Espírito Santo. After learning more, an opportunity arose for one of the entrepreneurs to collaborate with the project by funding a Christian book destined for inmates in the region.

Pastors in Prisons

The Communication team in Brazil visited a Detention and Resocialization Center in Linhares (CDRL) to ensure the delivery of these books. This initiative also includes evangelistic efforts as assigned pastors visit the prisoners weekly. In this unit, pastor Jhonatan Lopes is the one who does the follow-up.

"The visitation dynamic here in the prison happens on Mondays, from 9am to 11am. We have face-to-face contact with the inmates, which we call religious assistance," Lopes confirms.

"The religious work performed today at the re-socialization center aims to minimize the impact on both disciplinary matters, such as absences … so that everyone has access to religious assistance," says Juliana of Espírito Santo, a social worker at the CDRL.

The religious visits usually improve the detainees' behavior, which, together with reading, helps to reduce their sentences.

Transformed lives

The impact of the work done by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in these environments comes in the form of reading. The Liberos project assumes the role of evangelizing while stimulating the intellect of the inmates so that they leave prepared to deal with society and the job market.

"These religious projects impacted my life and made me know Jesus. Today people don't see me the way they saw me before," explains one of the inmates, who cannot be identified for security reasons. 

He says that he is now one of those responsible for organizing and promoting spiritual activities inside the prison. As he is soon to complete his prison sentence, he explains that he wants to continue preaching in the community where he lives and for the inmates who remain there.

Pastor Paulo Alberto Leite, who works in Linhares, a territory that houses one of these prisons, reinforces the care churches need to have with this marginalized group. He highlights that the Bible invites believers to visit those who are sick, naked, and in prison, because Jesus identifies with these groups. "Jesus will have simple expectations of our mission. When I was in prison, He will say, 'you came to visit me,'" Pastor Leite paraphrases.

The original article was published by the South American Division on the Portuguese-language news site.