Parole

If you get sentenced to prison, you may be let out early; but only if you're not considered a danger to the public. That decision is made by the Parole Board, whose workings we see in this series. It's really quite fascinating: many of those we see in the series have committed quite terrible crimes; and whether they qualify for parole is only loosely related to how much human sympathy we might have for them. The board members we see are surprisingly ordinary, and the approach taken in review meetings is very 21st-century: unemotional, quite formal, in many ways quite depersonalised (certainly on behalf of the board members, but also on the part of the applicants, who seem quite well trained to answer according to the expected script). Sadly, several of those who we see winning their freedom soon ended up back inside. But leaving people to rot is surely not the best option either.

A surface look at some of Britain's prisoners, who are going through the parole process. Annually in England and Wales there are approximately 16000 cases a year, with 4000 of those getting their parole.

Every single episode is revealing, introducing the viewer to the convicted person, explaining why they're in prison, and shows the outcome of the parole hearing.

It reminded me of CSI Forensics from The BBC, it's a fly on the wall procedural docu series, it's definitely an interesting watch, it gives us a surface look at the process, its successes and failures, and identifies the challenges in place, and introduces us to some of the parole officers.

It could have gone a little bit deeper, I came away with lots of questions, I wanted to know more about some of the processes and procedures, however the way it was done, it was a straightforward and easy watch.

As for the subjects, some seemed like decent people, some not so, you'll realise that mental health plays a big big part for many.

Bravo BBC, this was a good series.

8/10.

A very illuminating window into how worthies determine those safe to return to our streets, and the thoughts and anxieties of prisoners seeking this privilege.

A third (perhaps originally unintended) fascination arises from the outdated views of some Board members.

One, in whose gift a man's freedom lies, damns his behaviour saying: "He fired a gun with women... in the vicinity," and goes on to clarify that she will assess him as more dangerous than if all bystanders had happened to be male. And a life-prisoner's release to his long-term partner is, in part, justified with: "The love of a good woman is actually a protective factor." Any prisoner whose "index offence" endangered a woman rather than mere men, or who now seeks release to the safekeeping of a male partners must sweat in the cell, hoping that his or her future life will be decided by strangers untainted by such sexism and homophobia.