Conversion as a Safe Way Out of Crime in Peru

Some ten years ago, the Peruvian government started a project of collaboration between some churches and the National Penitentiary Institution, with individual churches intended to be responsible for a prison unit. However, by 2016, there only remained one successful unit: Ancón jail, under the care of MMM (Movimiento Misionero Mundial), a fundamentalist church popular in poor areas (MMM 2016a, c). Through interviews with pastors and inmates and by studying living conditions, I investigate the main features of MMM’s methods. Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition and a lived religion approach are taken as conceptual frameworks. The excluded inmate goes through a recognition process which enables him to develop a new identity and become a successful MMM proselyte. In parallel to religious and inner processes, he is reinserted into society.