While so many prepare feasts and celebrations, our teams from the Humanitas360 Institute and Tereza social business are in the countryside of São Paulo, on this December 23rd, building something deeper than solidarity: the recognition of our shared humanity. We are assisting people in semi-open regime during the year-end temporary leave from prison, the “Christmas saidinha” that penal populism insists on vilifying, purposefully emptying it of its legal and human meaning.
The Green Doors: Temporary Leave project is not charity. It is the unwavering defense of a right provided for in the Criminal Enforcement Act, essential for social reintegration, but which today languishes under attacks from punitive rhetoric that ignores evidence and feeds on fear. Since late 2023, we have been present at each temporary leave, offering food, clothing, legal guidance and, above all, reminding people that rights are not favors – they are civilizational achievements we cannot allow to regress.
This year, marked by COP30 taking place in the Amazon, our ecosystem demonstrated that environmental justice and social justice are inseparable. From the Venice Biennale of Architecture to the Potable Water Coalition for Indigenous Peoples, we raised the climate flag linked to social responsibility. Tereza launched its Hemp Collection, proving that structural transformations also begin with sustainable everyday choices, even in our wardrobes.
There is a thread connecting those who fight for clean water for indigenous peoples, those who advocate for regenerative soil agriculture, and those who defend the dignity of incarcerated people: the understanding that no crisis – whether climate, social, or public safety – will be solved without confronting the structures of exclusion that produce them.
May 2025 be the year we refuse the false choice between justice and security, between environment and development, between punishment and reintegration.
With the deepest agape love,
Patrícia R. L. Villela Marino
