GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY INMATES MAKE TOYS FOR NEEDY KIDS.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News

LANCASTER -- Harlan King is a 45-year-old inmate convicted of first-degree murder who will never be eligible for parole.

Cole Biernek, 37, is serving the 20th year of a 16-years-to-life second-degree murder conviction.

To look at the 60 or so lovingly crafted wooden toys built for underprivileged Antelope Valley children -- a collection that includes painted rocking horses, a doll house and cartoon-painted boxes -- King and Biernek, along with eight other inmates serving life sentences at Lancaster's maximum-security California State Prison, would seem to be improbable architects.

The toys were built in a prison wood shop in a prison arts project, and donated to Toys for Tots.

The toys were loaded onto an Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus at the AVTA's Lancaster headquarters. Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns, and prison Warden Robert Wong, along with several other officials, participated in AVTA's ``Stuff a Bus'' ceremony.

This Toys for Tots is part of a prison arts program that has been churning out holiday gifts for five years. The prison program has existed for 25 years.

``We're trying to be socially responsible even though we're in here and had the key thrown away on us,'' King said. ``We're still humans, and we still feel that social responsibility to do something.''

King, an Oklahoma native, said he was three days into a business trip in California in 1982 when he was charged with the crime for which he was ultimately convicted.

King said he grew up amid impoverished circumstances, and recalls receiving gifts from prison inmates when he was a child.

``You could buy stuff in the store, and that was cool, but having the handmade stuff, that impressed me,'' King said.

Prison arts facilitator Lucinda Thomas said inmates paid for materials for the Toys for Tots program out of their own trust funds.

Thomas said inmates in the arts program are among an ``honor yard'' group that has renounced gang affiliation and committed to drug-free and nonviolent lifestyles. She said the honor yard has been without incident for more than five years, a remarkable accomplishment considering the inmates' violent histories.

Thomas credits Wong for granting critical work status to the inmates that allowed them to continue working in the wood shop during a three-week lockdown.

She said the arts program has donated its works, raising more than $10,000 to local charities this past year.

``If it were up to me, these men would be breaking a sweat every day to give back to the society that they've victimized,'' Thomas said.

Hearns, a bishop at an area church, has ministered to inmates at the prison.

``Some of these guys will never get out, but yet somehow, through their gifts to the kids, they're making a contribution to the community from which they've taken,'' Hearns said, his voice quivering.

``No matter how a person goes cross-ward, there's always that soul that tells the real truth about that person, it doesn't matter how bad they are, they all have something good on the inside.''

Biernek said he and the other honor yard inmates spent three months building the toys, including several 12-hour days in the wood shop much of the past week, putting the finishing touches on their work Sunday.

``We're all in here for preying on society in some fashion, and the ability to give back to society turns a new corner for most of us,'' Biernek said.

``Until these types of programs, I've never had a reason to wake up feeling good about what I did the day before. You work in the laundry room and you really don't feel like you're accomplishing anything, but to build stuff to give to kids who otherwise may not have gotten anything for Christmas, that gives you a reason to feel good about yourself the next morning.''

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Photo:

(1) California State Prison In Lancaster Warden Robert Wong, right, and associate warden Darrell Downs move a rocking horse at the Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Lancaster on Monday. Toys made by inmates at the California State Prison in Lancaster were donated and collected here and will be distributed later this month. The toys included rocking horses, puzzles, trucks and doll houses made of wood.

(2) A wooden puzzle made by an inmate is seen at the Antelope Valley Transit Authority in Lancaster on Monday.

Alex Collins/ Special to the Daily News