https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/New-wheels-new-lives-at-Richmond-prison-2418952.php
Richmond inmates help build Christmas bikes for kids
By Allan Turner
Updated 11:23 pm CST, Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Robert Lee James, an inmate at Sugar Land's Vance Unit, refurbishes bicycles that will be delivered to needy children as Christmas presents.
Photo: Nick De La Torre
RICHMOND — Gray is the color that dominates this bleak, wet morning a few days before Christmas at the Carol Vance Unit, a minimum-security state prison in central Fort Bend County.
With its razor wire, steel bars and dim-lit, concrete-floored cubicles, Vance may seem the last spot to seek holiday warmth. But if you close your eyes - and heart - you may miss one of the season's little miracles.
Here, spread in front of a sheet metal building beneath a tattered tree, is Santa's workshop. Employed in it are Robert Lee James, 47, a Houston burglar, and Charles Emengini Jr., 24, a Dallas armed robber, men who soberly admit they have generated their share of the world's sorrow.
As the days to Dec. 25 dwindled, these unlikely elves, working from morning until night, scrubbed, polished and adjusted more than three score bicycles, tricycles and scooters. They assembled seats and replaced tires - all to ensure that children, some with parents in prison, get presents they otherwise may have done without.
"I had some experience with bikes in the past," says Emengini, who is serving a five-year sentence. "I stole at least six from Walmart when I was 16. I feel that, after all these years, I've gone from stealing to giving back, giving back what I've taken from the community."
James and Emengini, both of whom expect to be released from prison within two years, are among more than 260 Texas inmates participating in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a Prison Fellowship Ministries program designed to offer offenders guidance before and after their release from prison.
"We use a holistic approach," says Tommie Dorsett, InnerChange's local director. "We address an inmate's emotional, physical and spiritual needs and those of their families. Once they're released, we continue to work with them through mentors. We partner with the community in finding housing and jobs."
Working for smiles
Dorsett, a former Harris County parole officer who the inmates call "Santa," said he launched the bike repair program seven years ago after learning that kids in a nearby community needed bicycles.
Only 15 were refurbished in that trial effort. When Dorsett saw the smile that spread across the first recipient's face, he knew the program was worth repeating.
The first of this year's bicycles - about 50 - were distributed last weekend to children of prison inmates at a church in Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood.
"We may take a bicycle for granted," said the Rev. Leonard McCullum, pastor of Grace Fellowship Community Church. "But these may be the only gifts the children receive."
One child, Dorsett said, jumped onto his new bicycle, pedaled down the church's aisle into the parking lot where he spent the afternoon executing perfect circles.
Between now and Christmas, James and Emengini expect to get an additional 32 bikes up and running. Most, donated by individuals, schools and churches, are in decent mechanical shape.
"Each bike is a project," Emengini says. "What takes time is cleaning it, getting it to the specs we desire. We clean the chains, the rims - extreme detailing. It almost seems like a new bike when they get it."
Sharing lessons
Before the bikes are released for distribution, James gives them a critical inspection. "I look for cleanness," he says. "I make sure the reflectors are properly on, that nothing's going to fall off."
Like others in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, James and Emengini likely have only a short stretch to serve before release. James says that, on rejoining the free world, he hopes to share the lessons of his life through an after-school program for youngsters.
"My goal is to go to churches, junior high and elementary schools and ask if they would open their doors to me after school is out," he said. "...All the glory and honor go to God. If I do nothing else in life but serve him, that's enough."
Emengini says he would like to return to school to study business and, eventually, operate a restaurant.
"When they articulate doing something else, they've got what we've been teaching," Dorsett says of inmates in the program. "They've thought beyond the fences … That's the paycheck for me. They understand and are developing visions for life."
allan.turner@chron.com