Twenty prisoners will be working on Northland's railways over the next two years with a goal to get them reintegrated into the community and skilled enough to be offered full time work at the end of the programme.
The government's provincial growth fund has put 640,000 towards "Second Steppers" which will provide training and support for the prisoners.
The programme will start with five prisoners, and expand to twenty over the course of two years.
Greg Miller is the chief executive of KiwiRail.
He speaks to Susie Ferguson.
