LONDON: Cameron Moseley hopes to never return to prison thanks to a pioneering plan in London to reduce recidivism by training ex-prisoners to become bicycle mechanics. The XO Bikes project is based on the UK’s new Labor government’s intention to reduce prison overcrowding, in part by rehabilitating prisoners so they can find employment. “There’s not a lot of work for people like me,” said Moseley, 30, who has been in and out of prison three times. He was last released in July after serving a two-year sentence for actual bodily harm. His probation officer referred him to XO Bikes, a charity set up two years ago that takes participants through a six-week course in building and repairing bicycles. They can then either work as mechanics for XO Bikes, where they can earn around £26,000 ($34,000), or use industry standard qualifications and apply for work elsewhere. “If I didn’t have this I’d probably turn to crime again,” Moseley told AFP at the XO Bikes repair shop in Lewisham, south-east London. The initiative was launched in March 2022 by Stef Jones, a 58-year-old former advertising executive. He came up with the idea while volunteering at Brixton Prison in South London, where he saw inmates returning to prison because they were often unable to find work after release. “If nobody else will give you a job, I’ll give you a job,” Jones said he remembered thinking at the time. The scheme allows vetted participants to repair bikes donated by a variety of groups, including London’s Metropolitan Police, rail companies, corporations and members of the public. Each donated bike is stripped and cleaned, and then every part, from brakes and shifting to tires and frame, is tested, rebuilt, and then tested again. Refurbished bikes are returned to their original design or marked as an XO Bike and have a unique number for the ex-prisoner who repaired them. The bikes are sold on XO’s website and in its two stores, with profits then reinvested into the system. “You’ve got a bike with a past and a guy with a past and you’re giving both of them a shot at a decent future. That’s the idea,” Jones said. Interns also get “routine, community, support, encouragement, validation that you belong on this side of the street, that you have options,” he added.
