Brothers behind bars find Jesus and help build church

LA PAZ, Bolivia — The Pacheco brothers are well known in San Pedro Prison. All four of them have ended up serving time for different crimes, some more serious than others, but they acknowledge that their family “had a big problem.”

Brothers Franz (left) and Edwin Pacheco are among five family members who have served time in Bolivia’s prison system. Today, the four brothers are active Christians, thanks to the ministry of Maria Saracho. La Paz, Bolivia. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (BOL01DJ-92.JPG)

“We were orphans,” says Edwin, 34, the second-eldest brother. “Our father never was with us and our mother died when I was 12. I started getting into crime when I was 14. We would steal from people in the streets, and even carry out assaults. Then I went from stealing to worse things.”

This is his third time in prison. He has served four years of a 20-year sentence, with another 15-year sentence to be served later in a higher-security facility. But this third time has been a positive experience for the repeat offender.

“I became a Christian a year ago,” he says, although he admits that it has not been easy for him to change. Just before his conversion he was threatening to kill someone.

“But now I have improved,” he says. “The prison chaplain, Maria Saracho, baptised me and my wife together.”

This turned Edwin’s life around. His wife, who had been about to abandon him after 13 years of marriage, decided to remain with him after seeing him change and now comes to visit him twice a week. He has shared with her the Scriptures he has received through the Bolivian Bible Society and Opportunity 21, giving her his Scripture cassettes to listen to at home.

Major turnaround

Another major turnaround in Edwin’s life since his conversion was the fact that he has been granted an early release.

“Thanks to the Lord I'm going to get out in three months,” he said in late 2001. “And I do not know how it happened.”

He explained that when a court hearing concluded that he could be released, he was required to produce documents like a birth certificate, which he did not have.

“My birth certificate somehow arrived within 24 hours of the hearing!” he said. “Without that and other documents there is no way I would have been released.”

According to Ms Saracho, new legislation has been passed allowing certain prisoners early release. This legislation has also benefited Edwin’s youngest brother, Franz, 25, who is serving his first prison sentence and who has also come to faith.

He has so far served a year of his six-year sentence for drinking with under-age youths but is technically already free, thanks to being granted an early release. He wants to stay, however, until he and Edwin complete work on the prison church.

Six-year sentence

“I was the only family member who had not been to jail,” Franz says, “but I was drinking with under-age people and their parents took me to court. I got six years.”

When he was sent to prison his wife started having an affair and Franz was so angry that he wanted to kill her. He also fell into a deep depression. Then an evangelistic outreach was held in the prison and he attended for lack of anything else to occupy his time.

“I was sitting there, not paying attention to the pastor but I knew he was preaching about repentance,” Franz recalls. “I wanted to leave, but couldn't bring myself to go. I started looking back at my life and crying, realising that I needed to repent.

“I had been stealing since I was 12, when my older brothers taught me how. I had hurt people and I realised that I didn't want my life to be like that. I started crying and the preacher said, ‘Don't be ashamed’, but in here everyone wants to be tough.

“Then he said that God would save me as an individual and that’s when I decided to leave all the bad things in here behind me.”

When he heard that they were building a church in the prison, his brother Edwin convinced Franz to join him in working on it.

“I knew I was leaving the prison but I prayed that the Lord would let me help build this church first,” Franz says. “I forgot about years to be served or hearings to be released - I was here to build a church!”