Project Alcatraz

In 2003, gang members broke into the Hacienda Santa Teresa and attacked a guard. Quickly caught by the on-site security team, the criminals were offered a choice: either be handed over to police, or work at the Hacienda to make up for their crime. The gang members accepted the jobs and “Project Alcatraz” was born. Still going strong, the program recruits criminals from gangs, rehabilitates them and gives them a second chance. Along with vocational training at the Hacienda, they’re offered mental counseling and formal education, and they’re introduced to rugby, through which they learn the values of respect, discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship and humility. The thinking behind the project might have been bold, but as Santa Teresa CEO Alberto Vollmer explained, it wasn’t without logic: “The guys from the gangs are used to risking everything,” he stated. “So when you give them a chance to do something positive in life and they take it, they become an extraordinary force.”