10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Otago Daily Times
Bike repair programme helps prisoners navigate cycles of life
By Gwenaëlle Chollet
Youth offenders are learning lifelong skills while providing transport for released prisoners and their families.
The bike repair programme at Paparua Christchurch Men's Prison youth unit has been running for more than 10 years.
Volunteer bike mechanic 'Bike Mike' Nixon has been involved since the early days, when a church initiative partnered with Pathway Trust to repair and supply bikes for recently released prisoners.
When keeping up with the demand for bikes became a struggle, the programme was taken behind bars.
Nixon said he enjoys working in the youth unit every second Friday with the 'young fellas', who are 'quite keen'.
'They're going to finish their sentence, they're going to go to work, they're going to ride a bike … I'm passing this skill on that lasts a lifetime, that they can pass on to their own kids,' he said.
Nixon works with groups of two to three 18 to 20-year-olds at a time. Some he has for six months, others for up to three years.
He teaches them how to use tools, strip down the bikes, replace parts and service them.
'We just work together building bikes,' he said.
The budding mechanics also get to build their own bike, which 'slowly gets better and better, because they know all the good bits and they start putting them on'.
When they leave, it is with a top-quality bike.
At the start of the programme, Nixon said, some youth don't know which way to turn a spanner. By the end, they're all quite good mechanics.
One inmate said the programme taught him many useful skills, which could help him find work once released.
'It's good keeping busy, and good that the bikes go to someone that'll use them,' he said.
Nixon reckoned they refurbish up to 50 bikes a year, with mountain bikes a speciality. They also repair children's and women's bikes for families.
Old bikes are donated and 'scrounged' from places such as the Eco Store and Recycle A Dunga (RAD) and restored with new parts.
'They just need love and care, and hey presto, you get a really nice bike,' Nixon said.
Extra bikes go to Pathway Trust's Navigate Initiative, which helps recently released prisoners reintegrate into society and find work and accommodation.
Having a means of transport is crucial for finding and getting to work and for keeping appointments, such as probation meetings.
Pathway Trust's website says 'an efficient, cost-effective mode of transport can make all the difference in settling back into life on the outside.'
Nixon is delighted that some former prisoners have even found work in bike shops.
'We've had a couple of guys that loved it that much.'
Wanting to continue the cycle of help, Nixon is looking for a new volunteer to help him run the programme and eventually take it over.
