Bikes Beyond Bars

97% of prisoners say they want to stop offending

But the odds are stacked against them. Purposeful activity in prisons is at an all-time low. Sometimes residents are locked up for 23 hours a day. Self-harm and suicides continue to rise.

People who get a job after leaving prison are more likely to turn their lives around. Prisoners must work while inside – but tasks are often boring, repetitive and don’t need much skill. 

Our workshop is different. We give prisoners the tools to turn their lives around.

How Bikes Beyond Bars works‍

We take donations of broken and unwanted bikes to secure workshops inside local prisons. Here we teach prisoners the skills to completely refurbish them.

Prisoners earn a City & Guilds cycle mechanics qualification. For many, this will be their first. With our support, they gain employable skills, self-belief and a sense of hope – the keys to a crime-free future.

The difference we make

We asked the prisoners how our support has affected them:

• 80% now think more positively about themselves and the future.
• 63% want to learn more about bike mechanics and/or work in the cycle industry.
• 92% want to progress to further training after release.

Awards

Bikes Beyond Bars has won the Prison Reform Trust's prestigious Robin Corbett Award for Prisoner Reintegration and Best Bike Recycling Project at the Energy Innovator Awards.

Statistics source: Surveying Prisoners Crime Reduction, a survey by the Ministry of Justice.