After months of wholly negative publicity following a series of riots last July, there is something very heartwarming to report out of Arizona State Prison-Kingman.
Last week, inmates who participate in the prison's Wheels of the World program shipped out their 5,000th restored wheelchair to people who live in Third World countries - people who are desperately in need of one.
Normally, the 29 inmates who work in the program have no idea who will receive the wheelchairs they painstakingly restore, but an exception was recently made.
Program Coordinator Steve Marsh received a special request for a little girl in Africa with very special needs.
Marsh looked over the hundreds of used wheelchairs in the prison's shop, and only one met the girl's requirements. The inmates only had her photo to go on, but that was enough, because they also were aware of her tragic story. Here it is, in Marsh's words, which were lightly edited.
Tanzania, East Africa
A gang of men gather on a street in a mining district. They approach a home they heard on good information held what they were looking for. They confront the woman living there, but she refuses to speak to the leader of the men or help in any way. The gang's leader walks behind the home and sees a face peek out from a corner. They are beckoned to follow the figure to a windowless shed behind the home.
The door is locked so the leader picks up a rock and smashes the padlock. The men rush into the dark shed and find on the floor a child laying in rags. A member of the group confirms the child has cerebral palsy.
They wrap the child, Maria, in cloth and carry her from the shed to a dispensary, where she receives medical attention. Her body is malnourished, even emaciated, but proper care and diet improves her health. Now all she needs is a wheelchair.
Kingman, Arizona
More than 9,500 miles away, minimum-security inmates at a prison near Kingman are busy restoring old and discarded wheelchairs to a high-quality condition. Once restored, those wheelchairs are shipped out in batches of roughly 200 in cargo containers that are placed on ships and sailed to poor countries, where they are fitted to people in need of one.
Normally, the men have no idea who the wheelchairs will go to, only that the chair is absolutely needed.
Then came a special request from the Joni & Friends Ministry, which was searching for a special wheelchair for one little girl in Tanzania. Her name is Maria and she has cerebral palsy. The chair had to be a specific size and feature the proper supports for Maria's body, but it also had to be a wheelchair that could break down small enough to fit into a box for air shipment.
Marsh spent one morning going through the inventory and out of hundreds, he found one wheelchair that fit each of Maria's needs. The inmate workers removed the rust, washed and painted parts and put in a new seat, headrest and the body supports. After their work was inspected, the inmates took it apart and packed it in a box so a member of the ministry could fly with it to Tanzania and fit it to Maria.
"Maria's story is one of many stories," said Marsh. "In the language that is used at the Wheels of the World restoration program in Kingman, each wheelchair has a story to tell, each is important because each wheelchair is a life changed."
Changing lives
When they get to the prison, those chairs are broken and have been discarded. The inmates' mission is to turn trash into treasure.
The inmates also get something valuable out of the work they do, said Marsh.
"It is a process that has a profound impact on the inmate workers of the shop," he said. "They learn to help others, to give instead of to take, and that restoring lives is a real and possible outcome of hard work."
Here's what a few of the workers had to say about the program.
"Wheels for the World has given me a whole new outlook on the world itself," said Jack Owens. "There still are good people in this broken generation that care for people less fortunate and that are in need around the world. It has given me a sense of worth that I can be part of helping someone in need. It is a good feeling and a wonderful program."
Stephen Miller had this to say: "I feel that when given the opportunity to positively impact someone you have got to make the best of that chance. Wheels for the World continues to give me far more than I could ever give back. There is nothing quite like what we do here ... this job is far more than any job I have ever done inside or outside of the walls."
Neil Cannon sees the program as a shot at redemption.
"Wheels for the World means a lot to me. I have worked in this shop for three years and have seen firsthand how much good this place creates. It has given me an opportunity to right some of the wrongs I have done and I know that what I have done here makes a difference in the world and to me that's all that matters."
Kenneth Goins said the program has given his life purpose.
"This job in retrospect is very therapeutic in all forms, shapes and fashion," he said. "It opened my eyes to a world that we as people take advantage of. Helping others who otherwise could not live a normal life live a life of their own and putting smiles on faces ... is what gives me the drive to perform the task."
On Feb. 5, inmates under Marsh's direction loaded 201 fully restored wheelchairs into a tractor-trailer.
The driver took them to the Port of Los Angeles, where they were loaded on a cargo ship bound for Ghana. The shipment included the program's 5,000th wheelchair, a milestone reached in the ASP-Kingman program's fourth year.
"That is 5,000 lives changed, 5,000 families helped," said Marsh.
Actually, make that 5,001 - as Maria, the girl in Tanzania who was rescued from the floor of a dirty shed, will soon discover.
