ACRO's work in Corrections in contracting with the Queensland Corrective Services Commission in the provision of low cost community based facilities for currently serving prisoners was a unique concept in Australia at the time. Based upon the cadre system of post-revolutionary China, the program obliged ordinary communities to assume responsibility for offenders.

Approved offenders were housed in sharehouse accommodation and permitted to work and associate in the community on a conditional basis - having earned the privilege to do so.

These Houses formed the last rung of a stepped security ladder that moved offenders from secure confinement to conditional release along a continuum of custodial options that have decreasing levels of security. A Halfway House for currently serving prisoners only had the presence of a caretaker at night.

From an economic rationalist perspective this form of incarceration is cost effective with estimates for operation at some $20 / day / offender compared with historical costs of approximately $100 / day / offender (with higher levels of security). Furthermore the completion rate for participants is highly significant with reoffence rates suggesting that this gradual style of reintegration is far more successful then that of "cold release" from custodial settings.

ACRO operated three houses in Rockhampton (Halcyon House) and Cairns (Rose Blank House) and Brisbane (Warmington Street) for about 10 years.