Joe Cassie is halfway through giving the skirting boards a good wipe down when we arrive. His boss, Howard Platts, does the introductions. Stop what you're doing for 10 minutes, he says, so we can sit down and have a chat.

Joe casts a slightly anxious glance at all the cleaning he's still got to do, but he puts down his cloth and pulls up a chair without protest.

"Pleased to meet you," he says with a disarming smile, peeling off a blue latex glove so we can shake hands.

The 19-year-old from Groby has been with Action Clean for 14 weeks now.

"I'm enjoying it, yeah," he says. "It's good, pretty varied, and the people are good. And, you know, I'm grateful for the chance."

Howard, Action Clean's project manager, speaks in glowing terms about Joe. It's early days, he says, but they're really pleased with him.

Joe's helpful, bright, not afraid of hard work and he comes with a clutch of qualifications – the kind of teenager, then, to interest even the most jaundiced of bosses.

There are lot of ticks in Joe's plus column for any potential employer. Unfortunately for him, there is also a huge black mark against his name.

Sixteen weeks ago, Joe was walking out of the Glen Parva Young Offenders' Institution.

He had spent 14 months behind bars and is still electronically tagged to make sure he's home by 6.45pm every night.

What was he inside for?

"Kidnapping" he replies. The answer comes after a hard swallow. He knows how that sounds and it never sounds good.

The last time Joe appeared in this newspaper was in a court report.

A terrified 15-year-old had been bundled into a black Citroen Saxo, roughed up and told he would have his legs broken if he didn't pay a drugs debt.

The youngster was driven around for several hours by his four abductors. He phoned his parents and grandparents in a desperate bid to raise the £300 they said he owed.

Joe wasn't the one making the threats and he didn't physically hurt the boy, but he was behind the wheel of the car.

He was sentenced to three years' detention.

"I didn't hear a word the judge said after that," he says. "I couldn't believe it. I was expecting nine months or 18 months. Not three years."

The next thing he knew, a prison officer was ducking his head into the van that was to take him to Glen Parva.

Joe doesn't try to plead his innocence or look for sympathy. He's not a bad person, he says, but he did do a very stupid thing.

"It started out more of a joke at first to scare someone. The police got involved and I ended up in serious trouble. I'd never been in trouble in my life. I got dragged into something I shouldn't."

Glen Parva wasn't as bad as he thought it might be.

Joe kept his nose clean, worked hard and did every course he could – getting qualifications in everything from railway maintenance and engineering to ICT, cleaning and hygiene, business studies and citizenship.

"A couple of lads in with me were from Leicester," he says. "One of them was in and out five times during the 14 months I was inside.

"People used to come up to me and say, 'I'm getting out soon, but I'll be back in again in two weeks'.

"I used to think to myself, 'You might be, mate, but I'm not. When I get out of here. I'm never coming back again'."

He was desperate for a second chance, but who wants to give a convicted kidnapper one of those? Joe was going to be let out early because of his good behaviour, but he didn't hold out much hope of getting a job.

A few days before his release, Joe was called into the governor's office. He feared the worst, wondering what he could have done wrong.

The governor told him about a new project, something called Action Clean.

It was, he explained, a new initiative to get young offenders and people who have been homeless back into work.

Would he like to do give it a go? Joe nearly bit his hand off.

Howard takes up the story. Cleaning company Action Clean is the result of a partnership between training and employment social enterprise TREES, homeless charity Action Homeless, Glen Parva, and Apex Works – a Leicester charity that offers opportunities to the vulnerable and marginalised. TREES and Action Homeless have invested £30,000 to help get the project off the ground.

The idea is to make it self-financing though cleaning contracts with businesses, charities and local authorities. If all goes well, they will be recruiting one new employee – up to a maximum of 15 – every month.

Everyone will be taken on for six months – enough time for them to build up their confidence and show another employer they are trustworthy and capable of holding down a job.

The thinking behind the scheme is pretty simple, explains Howard. Give someone a job and you can help to break their cycle of homelessness and re-offending.

Action Clean is stage one of the masterplan.

Another fledging project, decorating business Action Paint, has already been set up. A gardening business called Action Green and a handyman project are also in the pipeline.

If things go well, the idea is to extend them outside of Leicestershire into other areas of the country. We all have a stake in seeing them succeed, believes Howard.

Locking someone up in prison for a year costs £45,000. A place in a homeless shelter is up to £31,000.

"What keeps people out of prison is having the basics," he says. "It's having a roof over your head and a bit of money in your pocket. Provide that and you are going a long way to stopping re-offending."

Finding the labour is never going to be a problem, he adds. Getting the contracts to keep them gainfully employed is a bit more difficult, but things are going okay.

Joe got out of Glen Parva on Friday, April 11.

The first thing he did was go to McDonald's for two double egg and sausage McMuffins. Then he had a haircut, went for a drive, got back and set about the beer his mum and dad had got in for him.

Three days later, he was starting work. Scrubbing toilet bowls and mopping floors was never an ambition when he was doing a sports course at college, but he's grateful to be doing it – at least for now.

"It's not easy to get back to where you left off, but I'm trying," he says. "I'm lucky in a lot of ways. I know that."

www.actionclean.org.uk