Bike recycling program designed to aid inmates
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/11/2013 (4496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A pilot program at Brandon Correctional Centre will give inmates an opportunity to gain valuable skills while, at the same time, provide a service to the community.
As part of the Recycle Your Cycle program, inmates will pick up disposed bicycles from the city’s landfill, refurbish them at a shop at the jail and donate the “like-new” bikes back to community groups that will hand them out to families in need.
“It’s a win-win-win,” said Tom Keep, the City of Brandon’s environmental initiative manager. “The inmates take pride in what they’re doing and they’re providing these units to the community. As well, there is a skill that is learned and it’s a real positive.”
Keep said the program — which is a partnership between the jail, the city and Stream ‘N’ Wood, that will provide tools and parts to the program at a reduced price — came out of discussions at a Brandon Environmental Committee meeting.
“It’s something that we’ve seen done in other cities with success and we thought: Why can’t it work here?”
Normally, items at the landfill aren’t allowed to leave the premises, but the city will make an exception for what it believes is a noble cause.
“They’ve picked up 1,440 kilograms of bicycle parts and there is still a lot more out there,” Keep said. “Next spring, with the supervision of a correctional officer, the inmates will start to refurbish the bikes.”
Davelda Morran, community program co-ordinator for the John Howard Society in Brandon, said the program is just one piece of a complicated rehabilitation puzzle.
“People who are incarcerated have a lot of time on their hands and any opportunity for learning or recreation is a good thing,” she said.
While the explicit skills related to repairing bicycles might not translate into direct employment outside -the jail, the “soft skills” such as communication, teamwork and troubleshooting are valuable in any setting.
“It could help people develop a work ethic and pick up a set of skills that could come in handy at some point in their life,” Morran said.
Maybe most important is the relationship the program starts between inmate and community, according to Morran.
“Any time a person can contribute to a community in a positive and meaningful way that’s a good thing,” Morran said. “It helps people become connected.”
The goal is that connection can help slow recidivism rates and foster a mutual relationship of responsibility between community and convict.
Anyone looking to donate to the program can take their bike to the landfill and drop it off near the metal pile.
» ctweed@brandonsun.com