Cameron Moseley hopes to never return to prison. It benefits from a unique program in London consisting of training former prisoners to become bicycle repairers in order to reduce recidivism and overcrowding in British prisons.
Released in July after serving a two-year sentence for assault and battery, this thirty-year-old has already served three stints in prison.
“There are not many job opportunities for people like me” when we go out, he explains to AFP, between two checks on the assembly of a bicycle.
His probation officer therefore referred him to “XO Bikes”, a non-profit company founded two years ago, whose premises are in a shopping center in Lewisham, south-east London. She trains former prisoners over six weeks.
They can then hope to be hired by “XO Bikes”, where they will earn around 26,000 pounds per year (31,000 euros), or they can use their new skills to apply elsewhere.
“If I hadn’t had this, I probably would have done it again,” said Cameron Moseley.
The program began in March 2022, at the initiative of Stef Jones, a 58-year-old former advertising executive.
He had the idea when, while he was volunteering at Brixton prison (south London), repeat offender prisoners told him that they were falling back into illegality, particularly because they could not find no work when they leave.
“If no one else will give you work, then I will,” Stef Jones promised.
During their training, selected participants work on bikes donated by individuals, businesses and even the Metropolitan Police in London.
Each bike is dismantled, cleaned, then each part is checked, reassembled, possibly repaired and tested again.
Once refurbished, some bikes are marked with the name “XO Bikes” and stamped with a unique number identifying the ex-convict who repaired it.
They are then sold on the association’s website or in its two stores, and the profits are reinvested in the program.
“You have a bike with a past, and a guy with a past, and you give them both a chance to have a decent future. That’s the idea,” says Stef Jones.
– Stay on the safe side –
But the training also provides ex-prisoners with “routine, camaraderie, support, encouragement, the feeling that they are on the right side of the fence, that they have options,” he adds.
Gary Oakley, 38, says the program has given him a sense of purpose and “pride” since he left prison in April, after serving an 18-month sentence for assault.
“Having something to look forward to kept me from getting depressed, staying closeted and going in the wrong direction and ending up in prison again,” he adds.
Around one in four prisoners is a repeat offender in England and Wales, according to official figures, representing a cost of around £18 billion a year (€21 billion).
Recidivism contributes to the overcrowding of prisons, which forced the new Labor government a few weeks ago to release 1,700 prisoners in advance.
In order to reform the prison system, Prime Minister Keir Starmer – a former lawyer and director of public prosecutions – appointed as Secretary of State for Prisons the entrepreneur James Timpson, founder of a shoemaking empire and philanthropist committed to the reintegration of detainees.
His company of 5,600 employees employs 10% ex-prisoners.
In 2013, a study by the Ministry of Justice indicated that the recidivism rate reached 43% among former prisoners who had not found employment upon release from prison, compared to an average rate of 18%.
Of the 65 former inmates who participated in the “XO Bikes” program, only two reoffended. The program “works”, says Stef Jones, who now wants to start training as a barber.
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