Mentors have been visiting selected convicts for the two months leading up to their release to offer them advice and information about getting back into work.

Nacro’s Equal Engage scheme enables advisors to help them with their CVs, search and apply for jobs and prepare for interviews, as well as dispense advice on how to access benefits and housing on their release.

Project organisers have also been setting up unpaid work placements in retail, construction, painting and decorating and gardening for recently released offenders to help them reintegrate into life in the Peterborough area.

The scheme, which was launched in April and will run until January, is being funded by the European Social Fund and administered by the Learning and Skills Council, is helping a total of 300 inmates across the east of England – around 50 in Peterborough – and will run until January.

Nacro spokesman Chris Harpin said: “We want employers to realise that many people who have been to prison come out with skills that can be used in the workplace.

“The mentors help to support prisoners, identify their skills and help them look for a job.”

She added that the mentors are able to help convicts after their release by liaising with the probation service to make sure they are able to work without missing appointments and breaching the terms of their licences.

Cambridgeshire Euro MP Richard Howitt, who visited Peterborough’s Nacro Centre, in Lincoln Road, said: “We need to break the cycle of low skills, unemployment and prison, which is sadly all too common.

“More than 50 per cent of male prisoners in the UK have no qualifications at all and 67 per cent were unemployed when they were jailed, so it’s no surprise that they often fall back into a life of crime. That’s why the Engage scheme is so important.

“It takes prisoners just before they are released and gives them the best possible chance of succeeding in life.

“Getting them back into work benefits everybody – offenders, their families and the public.”

Once the trial for the scheme is completed, it will be assessed to see if it has been a success.