A company set up by former police officers is finding work for people who have served prison sentences - including for offences as serious as sexual assault and murder.
Konnect works with ex-offenders to find suitable jobs for them with sympathetic employers across the South West.
It doesn’t condone criminal behaviour but stressed that employment, in environments which don’t put people into temptation, lessens the chance of re-offending, protects potential victims and ultimately saves the taxpayer money.
Konnect is funded by the National Lottery’s Community Fund and the EU’s European Social Fund to offer former felons coaching and support to help them find work and further their rehabilitation.
Konnect has also just linked with Plymouth’s Jobcentres, in Old Tree Court and Devonport, in a three-month pilot scheme, funded by social enterprise Pluss, to find work for people recently convicted of “low-level” crimes, at “the point of sentence”.
It has already worked with 30 former offenders, including a sex offender and someone who had served a 15-year sentence for murder, finding jobs for 18 of them and training for eight.
They are working in a variety of roles including in construction and retail. One even started a cleaning business. The EU has given cash for a further three-month trial.
It’s an emotive subject, but Konnect stressed that people who have served a sentence, and paid their debt to society, are entitled to a fresh start.
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It is also vastly expensive for someone to go through the criminal justice system, so keeping people out of prison, and helping them contribute as workers and tax payers, makes practical sense.
“Konnect was set up by two ex-police officers who wanted to provide a service that’s not about punishing people but helping them,” said Konnect director Zena Gardener.
“I do not condone what they (offenders) do,” she added. “But they should still work. Why should society keep them when they are capable of work? They have done their punishment and want to leave it all behind them and have some normality.
“And if they are in work there is a 70% chance they will not re-offend. Give them a job and they will be occupied and feel good.
“The cost saving to society is enormous. It costs £1million to look after a prolific offender.”
Case study - Gary's story
By the time he was in his mid-30s Gary had never worked. He had spent seven years in prison which had left him with a lack of confidence, few plans, and little in the way of prospects.
Following a magistrates' court referral he met Konnect.
"We engaged, challenged, equipped and empowered Gary to get his life back," a Konnect spokesman said.
Gary is now in full-time employment and feeling more positive about his future.
Konnect is in close contact with probation and public protection services, and rigorously risk assesses each offender.
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“We never put employers at any risk,” Ms Gardener said. “Employers even say they (ex-offenders) are some of the best workers they have had, because they want to change and not let people down.”
Ms Gardener said most of the ex-offenders Konnect works with are men, but there are some women.
“Often the women are more complex,” she said. “They may have suffered domestic violence or had their children taken away.”
Konnect was founded in Cornwall in 2014 by Ian Curnow and Tris Ley, working with agencies such as the police, including its prolific offender unit, and health services.
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Mr Curnow, who spent 19 years as a police officer, said to rehabilitate offenders the root cause of their criminality has to be understood.
And by giving them stability and responsibility it removes the need, for many, to offend.
“Offenders would say they need something to lose,” he said. “Employment is one of those things.”
Konnect also works with the victims of crime, to see their side of events, but stressed that sometimes offenders are also victims.
But he stressed: “I don’t disagree that if someone has done something wrong they need to pay a price. But how do we rehabilitate them so they don’t go back and offend again?
“There is no doubt the offenders we work with are nervous about going into employment, may have not worked before.
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“But without the opportunity to do something, and show they can do things, it creates more of a problem.
“And I can also understand the nervousness from employers about ex-offenders. But we want the get employers to see beyond the conviction.
“And we always make sure the jobs they are applying for are appropriate.”