Although the proportion of actively religious people is dropping in France as it is in most first world countries, up to 88% of the population still belongs to the Roman Catholic church, according to the CIA World Factbook.

The Christian symbol of the lamb comes to the fore at Christmas. The launch of BETC’s lamb that turns into a wolf allegory was well timed.

The allegory is BETC’s film for Ensemble Contre la Récidive (Together Against Recidivism)  to raise awareness for the problems leading to recidivism. The film presents, through metaphor, the transformation some prisoners go through while serving their sentence. During the 45 second spot shows the metamorphosis of an inmate from a lamb into a wolf throughout his prison term.

Ensemble Contre la Récidive was begun in 2010. Its original name was Prisons of the Heart, which gives you an idea of the spirit behind it. The organisation helps prisoners better reintegrate into society and is leading the fight against recidivism in France in order to reduce the rate of repeat offenders. Currently 59% of prisoners reoffend, so Ensemble Contre la Récidive acts on an institutional and structural level, working whenever possible in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and the prison administration and not with the prisoners themselves or their families, to try to get things done for those sentenced to fewer than five years.  

It is financed exclusively by the funds of large companies in order to be completely independent of political powers and to build truly innovative projects. Companies who have helped, or are helping, its work include AG2R World, AXA, Bouygues Telecom, Caisse des Dépôts, Canal +, EDF, Lagardère, M6, Lyon, Orange, Schneider Electric, TF1, Thierry Suc Organization, Total. Private contributors are Pierre Alain Blum, Martin Bouygues, Henri Lachmann.

“France was again condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, Thursday, April 25, 2014, for “degrading treatment “, because of the conditions in the prison of Nancy finally closed in 2009.” (The World newspaper). Ensemble Contre la Récidive also works to improve the conditions of prisoners to help its rehabilitation efforts to achieve better results.

The film went to air on French TV on December 8, and is also online on YouTube.