Image of the Day: Prisoners Produce Power with Bicycles
A program in its infancy in Brazil is allowing prisoners to reduce their jail time by producing electricity for a neighboring town. Local engineers turned bikes rescued from the town’s lost and found to machines that can charge up a car battery, which is then used to power 10 street lamps on a once abandoned waterfront promenade.
According to a story by the Associated Press, prisoners volunteer to participate in the program and can lose a day from their sentence by biking for eight hours a day for three days.
The director of the prison piloting the program, which powers the street lamps with renewable energy, described it as a "win-win situation…People who normally are on the margins of society are contributing to the community and not only do they get out sooner in return, they also get their self-esteem back."
Credit: Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
