One day left for charity auction of prisoner’s sculpture

23 December 2015

One day left for charity auction of prisoner’s copper sculpture.

There’s one day left for those wanting to be the proud owner of an impressive copper ‘Pegasus’ horse, made by a prisoner and being auctioned for charity.

The TradeMe auction for the sculpture, created by an offender at Christchurch Men’s Prison out of scrap copper pipe, closes tomorrow. The horse weighs around 100kg and stands nearly two metres high with a wing span of around 1.5m.

The funds raised from the auction will go to the Salvation Army and Prison Chaplaincy Services. The charities were chosen by the prisoner who made the sculpture because they make a real difference to the lives of offenders within prison and in the community. He said: “Both organisations have had a positive impact on me personally and I wanted to use my talents to give something back to them.”

“We were thrilled to see that in the first 24 hours the horse had more than $3,000 in bids,” said Pablo Godoy, Assistant Prison Director, Canterbury Prisons. “This will be a great feature piece for whoever wins and the purchase will make a real difference to two very worthwhile organisations.”

The arts are an important part of prisoner rehabilitation as they help prisoners express themselves and communicate. The arts can also open prisoners’ eyes to new or previously unrecognised skills and hobbies and provide a more constructive way for them to spend their free time. They are an important part of the prison’s rehabilitation and reintegration, which also includes education, industry, offender employment and targeted programmes aimed at reducing reoffending.

ENDS.

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