In a way, there will be two Relay for Life fundraisers in Billings this weekend.

One will take place, as usual, at the West High track. The other will unfold inside the Montana Women's Prison.

About a dozen inmates signed up to pedal stationary bicycles, walk or jog on treadmills and operate elliptical trainers in the prison gym for 10 hours beginning at 7 p.m. Friday.

For each mile the women log, 10 cents will be donated to Relay for Life -- 5 cents from a fund overseen by inmates and 5 cents from the guards' union. Money raised during the annual event goes to cancer research.

Working in 30-minute shifts on eight exercise machines, inmates hope to rack up enough miles to donate $500. They also want to raise more money than a team of prison employees that will walk all night at the West High track.

"I've done a lot of damage to my community," said inmate Stephanie Ballenger-Brooks. "This is finally a chance I can give back. I just want to help."

Montana Women's Prison inmates have contributed to past Relay for Life fundraisers by making crafts to be sold at a garage sale, said correctional officer Gloria Soja.

This is the first time inmates have been able to participate so directly.

"It's part of the recovery process," said Soja, who helped organize the mini-relay event. "Part of recovery is healing those ties to the community. You do that by giving back."

Even though they have been convicted of crimes, prison inmates are human beings who are affected by cancer when they are diagnosed themselves or when it strikes a family member, Soja said.

As she pumps away on an elliptical trainer Friday night, inmate Shawna Brown will be thinking about her father, who died about a week ago from cancer. Jennifer Jurak will be thinking about her mother, who survived breast cancer.

"People just write us off as a lost cause," Jurak said. "There's so many good hearts in here."

Even inmates who did not want to participate in the relay event apparently thought it was a good idea.

It took a vote from the entire prison population to approve pledging inmate funds to the fundraiser, Soja said.

"It's good to see the ladies involved in the community," she said.