Bermuda is to pilot a prisoner rehabilitation programme which could provide a model for the whole world to follow.

The one-year project involving ten inmates could slash recidivism rates by up to a third and help save millions spent on crime and punishment if followed through on a larger scale, said Prison Fellowship Bermuda chairman Jack Harris.

The key part of the programme is finding out what made people tick and matching them with suitable jobs, he said.

?If you take a job where you are unhappy you will go back to your old ways. If you like working alone then putting you on a reception desk won?t make you happy.?

Motivating people to pursue rewarding careers removed a feeling of being victimised which most prisoners felt said Mr. Harris. ?It?s nothing to do with academic ability, it?s about natural ability and contentment. It teaches you to look at yourself and play to your skills and interests.?

Prison Fellowship Bermuda has hooked up with the Bermuda Industrial Union to help match released inmates into suitable jobs. A workplace mentoring programme provides third party support for ex-inmates and their employers to consult if conflict arises and helps bosses feel easier about taking such workers on. Inmates discuss progress and problems with counsellors.

Former prisoners are also assigned to a six month adopt-an-inmate programme run by churches, which was first pioneered in Bermuda a few years ago.

For six months released prisoners are given financial assistance, help with budgeting and counselling. The whole project, costing around $190,000, will be run by a resettlement office which will help people negotiate government bureaucracy and find accommodation and employment. Mr. Harris believes the programme will cut Bermuda?s 80 percent recidivism rate by a third.

He said: ?We spend about 12 percent of the total budget on crime and punishment and $15 million on the prison population alone. The amount of money spent on this globally is staggering. If we can reduce it by a third that?s extra money for education and health.?

He expects the programme to then be adopted in the Caribbean and then the rest of the world.

Ronald Nikkel, president of the Prison Fellowship International, which comprises 105 countries, said: ?I feel this represents a unique opportunity for one of the world?s smallest countries to contribute very significantly to one of the world?s greatest problems ? the overall effect of crime on our communities.?

Prison Fellowship Bermuda are now seeking sponsors for the pilot, known as the New Road programme.