Mexico City – (SatireWorld.com)

Although prisons are intended as places where convicted criminals can pay their debts to society, confinement behind bars rarely yields anything other than the punishment alone.

But now, thanks to an innovative new initiative underway at a correctional facility in Mexico City, prisoners are being given the chance to slash their sentences while bringing a bit of light into the world, literally…by producing the electricity used to power city street lamps with some muscle power!

PHOTO INSERT: Luis Garcia only has to spend another 7,450,789 hours on his bike before the prison doors spring open.

According to the National Journal, Mexico’s Santa Rita prison, following the suggestion of a local judge, recently installed electricity-generating stationary bikes as part of a plan to keep inmates active while letting them contribute to a greater good.

For every 16 hours spent pedaling to charge a battery connected to the bike, prisoners of good standing will shave a day off their sentences. The energy will then be used to power streetlights in the city that might otherwise be dark, making the community a safer place at night for everyone.

Using the bikes isn’t mandatory, but when their benefits are as win-win, there’s no reason it needs to be. “I was a little chubby,” says one inmate. “I’ve lost about ninety pounds.”

Given the success of the program so far, the prison plans to add even more power-generating bikes which will go even further to reduce sentences, waistlines, electricity bills, and carbon emissions…all while making the world a brighter place, in more ways than one.

Inmate Luis Garcia age 62, who’s serving 77 consecutive life sentences for kidnapping, feels he can get out early because the warden now allows him to pedal up to 22 hours a day…”He promised me I could possible get out early and gave me my own bicycle to use in my cell!”