ELLSWORTH ? Behind the fences strung with razor wire, underneath the watchful eyes of prison guards, Jeffrey Burnham is setting people free.

With ratchets and wrenches, screwdrivers and steel wool, the prisoner convicted of child abuse is refurbishing and rebuilding wheelchairs destined for Third World countries.

Five days a week you’ll find him here, in Ellsworth Correctional Facility’s industrial building, working to provide some of the world’s poor with the opportunity to overcome their disabilities.

“There’s millions of people out there who don’t have hope,” said Burnham, a quiet man dressed in prison-issued blue denim. “When they get a wheelchair, it changes their life.”

That life-changing force can also be seen in the lives of the prisoners who work here, said correctional officer Bill Huehl.

As they work to tear apart, clean and reconstruct the chairs, the inmates learn basic mechanical skills, how to solve complex problems and the value of a strong work ethic.

“It gives the inmates a sense of encouragement,” Huehl said. “They like knowing somebody’s going to benefit because of what they did.”

Every month, Burnham and the other 31 inmates participating in the prison’s Wheels for the World program churn out more than 80 rebuilt wheelchairs. Since the program started in January 2003, the Ellsworth prison has reconstructed more than 1,000 wheelchairs.

Inmate Jeffrey Burnham works to rebuild a wheelchair at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility in Ellsworth. The wheelchair is one of many that will be sent to Third World countries through the prison's Wheels for the World program.

The Wheels for the World program was established as an outreach of Joni and Friends Ministries, founded by paraplegic Joni Eareckson Tada.

The used chairs are collected at wheelchair drives across the United States and brought to the prison by the truckload; some chairs simply need a solid cleaning, while others are missing multiple parts.

“It’s a dirty job, but I enjoy it,” Burnham said, looking over the stripped-down silver frame of a wheelchair dotted with rust. “I’d rather be doing this than sweeping or mopping floors.”

Many of the inmates involved with the wheelchair program are also involved in the InterChange Freedom Initiative, a prison-based Christian ministry program, and they look at wheelchair reconstruction as their chance to serve others.

“I’m not meant to be a preacher, but I’m pretty good at mending wheelchairs,” said inmate Ronnie Busick. “That’s my ministry.”

Refurbishing wheelchairs has meant so much to Busick and Burnham that both said they would like to continue the work when they get out of prison. But mainly, they’re just happy to have the chance to contribute.

“It makes me smile,” Burnham said. “I mean, it’s one thing for us to be able to do some work while were in here, but instead we have the opportunity to show we have a love and a desire to help those people who think that we don’t care.”