Fitness program helps female prisoners develop body, mind and spirit

CANON CITY, Colo. - It almost feels like one of those Curves fitness clubs you see tucked into neighborhood shopping centers, where young moms, working women and grandmothers chat companionably while they work out on hydraulic exercise equipment.

But here, the women are convicted thieves, drug dealers, forgers, burglars and the like.

The gym doors are locked, iron bars fortify the windows, and guards watch every athletic move. Instead of designer workout wear, the women wear yellow T-shirts issued by the Colorado Women's Correctional Facility.

This Curves fitness program is not only shaping the women's physiques, but their lives, too.

The women are learning values they will take with them when and if they get out of prison: self-esteem, how to work with others, how to stick to and accomplish goals.

And they're learning to get rid of stress and take care of their health.

Jim Abbot, facility warden, is impressed by the Curves program.

"It makes them feel and look better, and when that happens, they are better inmates," Abbot said.

The prison project was started a year and a half ago by Carole Bergeman, who owns two Curves franchises - one in Canon City, Colo., and one in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The program is set up as an incentive for the prisoners. If they break prison rules, such as possessing contraband, they lose the Curves privilege.

The Canon City program, a pilot program for Colorado and the nation, has been popular. Of 224 inmates, 135 participate. Bergeman recently started programs at the Brush and Denver women's correctional facilities.

Within Curves, some of the other 10,000 franchises worldwide may adopt similar programs as community-service projects, according to Gary Heavin, founder of the Waco, Texas-based company.

Mildred Leggett, a former Denver cook, has been working her buns off on a dozen exercise machines for the past few months.

"I had too much caboose. I started out at 208 pounds, and now I'm 171 pounds," she says, noting she has dropped from a size 2X to a medium - and had to get new prison uniforms.

She says she has been incarcerated on and off since 1990 for various drug offenses.

It's the first time the 52-year-old woman has ever exercised. She cut out desserts, drinks more water and faithfully follows other tips in the Curves nutrition and exercise booklet distributed to inmates. The prison now posts menus noting more healthful choices in the cafeteria.

Leggett says she's got more energy and has been able to cut back on blood-pressure medicine.

"I don't feel tensed. I'm getting ready for parole-board hearings, and this just helps." Her mother and her son died while she has been in prison. "I think the exercise helped my sanity," she said.

On a recent day, Glenna West, manager of the Canon City Curves, and Bergeman were putting a dozen inmates through a session of strength training using donated hydraulic resistance machines built for Curves. Curves leaders and volunteers run the fitness program.

"That's the way to go," West yelled above the boom of music as the inmates chatted, laughed and sweated away on a dozen machines.

The Curves volunteers know some people might criticize them for giving a helping hand to inmates whose crimes against society range from drug sales to plotting murder.

But Heavin, the Curves founder, sees it this way:

"Most women in prison are there because of drugs. They self-medicated because of things like depression and poor self-esteem. Well, exercise is one of the greatest treatments."

The women compete in six-week challenges to see who can lose the most weight and inches. They receive prizes, such as free photos of themselves, to send to their loved ones. At the end of the challenge, participants celebrate with a party that includes karaoke and pizza.

Bree Stephenson, 27, won the last challenge by losing 12 pounds, 12 inches and 3 percent of her body fat.

"I'm one of those people who hated gym class," she says. She's served 7¹/₂ years of a 40-year sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and will be up for parole in a few years.

She says the Curves class, along with a prison job training shelter dogs for adoption, has motivated her to change. "I signed up to see if I could stick with something. And I have."

It surprised her. "Things don't seem as hard as they used to be."

The volunteers make her feel like she is accomplishing something worthwhile in her life. "They compliment you and treat you like an individual. It helps you get yourself together," she said.

Bergeman was a stay-at-home mom who raised four kids when she saw an ad 10 years ago offering a Curves franchise.

"Curves is about empowering women, and it did it for me. I was overweight, a smoker at the time and had no business experience." The club was the 13th in the United States, and it was so successful that she opened a second franchise in 1998 in Colorado Springs.

Two years ago, Bergeman bought new exercise equipment and wondered what to do with the old set of 12 machines. A friend's daughter who works at the prison suggested donating it there.

Prison officials were receptive to the idea, and Bergeman enlisted volunteers from her staff and members. Recreational officials at the prison were trained to use the Curves equipment so they could help the women when Curves volunteers aren't around.

Bergeman believes the program gives inmates tools for living outside.

"They will be in our communities, so if you can give them some self-worth, they are going to be more productive. Seeing some of those young girls in there breaks my heart. They are younger than my own kids."

Bergeman has organized an "after care" program for inmates when they get out. She says several Curves franchises around the state, including those in Colorado Springs, have agreed to waive initiation fees for former inmates who were in the prison program.

So far, there have been no "graduates" from the fledgling program who have called to let her know how things are going outside.

Georgette Wires, 36, says she used to snack a lot in the evenings on packaged noodles from the snack machines. "Now I know that defeats the purpose." She's lost seven pounds and gained muscle.

But more important, she says, the exercise "gives me structure and makes me feel good about myself. It's a blessing. When I have a bad day I can work it out better emotionally."

Wires has served time for drug dealing and, most recently, jumping parole. She gets out in August. Her mother has been taking care of her eight children, ages 7 to 18. "I've had a lot of guilt and shame about that, being here."

While imprisoned, she has been working as a clerk for the dog-training program. Once outside, she wants to use an ex-offender grant to take business classes at a community college.

"I think being in Curves on a schedule has forced me to care about myself and look at choices and consequences," Wires says. "It was hard to keep going at first. But I did, and now I can focus on what I should be doing. And I can deal with adversities and let things pass."

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(c) 2006, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.