The council has set up a pilot scheme for offenders serving sentences of less than one year and offers them homes on their release.
Flo Clucas, cabinet member for housing, said: "Very often offenders go back into an environment of crime when they leave prison. We're trying to break that cycle.
"They are given active support when they come out but are expected to turn up for work every day. If they put a foot wrong, they're out."
The pilot scheme, which has been running since April at HM Prison Liverpool, has been popular with inmates. It has attracted around 50 trainees so far.
Training organisation Kickstart works with the offenders on their release.
Director Dennis Gaskell said: "It's been a great success. There's such a big skills deficit and we are getting people ready to work on site – housing associations and other developers have been very pleased."
Prisoners who join the scheme are offered three months training while in custody and the chance of six months' training on their release.
They can take up employment with Fusion 21, a local procurement partnership between Knowsley council and seven registered social landlords, or with other developers.
The programme also offers ex-offenders tenancies in council or RSL homes, on the condition that they renovate the property.
As they train, they get continued support – for example, with accessing benefits – as well as drug testing. When the programme coordinators are satisfied with their performance, which can take six months, they receive a tenancy in their name with full rights.
The programme is designed to tackle the shortage of construction workers, which was highlighted by the House Builders' Federation 2001 employment survey.
It found 35% of housebuilders were experiencing shortages of managers and supervisors and 73% of developers felt the shortage of suitably skilled workers was impacting on their activities.
A spokeswoman for the Howard League for Penal Reform, a prisoners' charity, said: "There are three things that need to be in place for prisoners to stay crime-free on their release – family ties, a home to go to and help to find and keep a job."
Source
Housing Today
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