Brazil is a country that's gone from rags-to-riches, and today it has a booming economy. However, its fast rise to prominence also has a downside: it has a high crime rate.
In an attempt to rehabilitate the large population of prisoners, a project was started in the state of Minas Gerais that enables the incarcerated to hop on a stationary bicycle which provides electricity to the local town.
Participating prisoners get one day taken off their sentence for every three eight-hour days they spend cycling. The electricity that is generated goes to a battery that lights up street lamps alongside the riverside promenade in the town of Santa Rita.
The program is an environmentally-friendly and humane form of rehabilitation that helps prisoners give something back to society while staying healthy and out of trouble. It joins various other projects that are run by Brazil's federal prisons and offer reduced sentences. One such other program reduces inmates's sentences for participating in elementary to college-level classes.