Brazilian prisoners get out early by pedaling exercise bikes to generate electricity

From: John K.

Sent: June 11, 2016

To: undisclosed recipients

Subject: Fw: Brazilian prisoners get out early by pedaling exercise bikes to generate electricity

I thought this was a pretty good idea for our (United States) prisons. Give inmates a chance to reduce their sentences if they are willing to give back to the community. Of course this program can't work for those in for life sentences. ~John

Prisoners in Brazil are having time cut from their sentences in exchange for generating electricity through exercise bikes. Right now this appears to only be happening in a small prison in Minas Gerais, Brazil, but this wild-sounding, yet efficient concept is pretty remarkable — especially considering all time inmates normally spend passing time confined in their cells.

Hopefully these shortened sentences don’t apply to the more violent of criminals, but generating power within prisons doesn’t seem to be a terrible idea at all. According to BBC News, “for every three eight-hour shift they spend on the bike, they get one day off their sentences. It is part of a project recently initiated in Brazil which aims to tackle overcrowding in prisons and keep prisoners away from crime.”

The energy created in this project is being used to light street lamps for the public. Beyond prisons, there’s so much untapped potential in the passive acts that people do everyday. Our constant movement (walking, running, cycling, sports, going to the gym, etc) can be used to generate electricity, but isn’t ever tapped like it should or could be.