Parole
The Fate of Prisoners in My Hands and the High-stakes Risks of Getting it Wrong – As Seen on TV
by Rob McKeon
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Pub Date 3 Sep 2024 | Archive Date 25 Jul 2024
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Description
Deciding if a prisoner should stay in prison or be released is no mean feat. Enter the fascinating world of the parole board with Rob McKeon of BBC’s Parole.
…You don’t know what you don’t know.
How can you predict the future when you don’t know what you don’t know?
Rob McKeon is a member of Britain’s parole board, making tough, life-changing decisions about whether a prisoner is safe to return to society; impacting not only prisoners and their victims, but also the general public. This vital work has been the subject of a BBC television documentary, Parole.
For 12 years, Rob has been handling sensitive and high-profile cases, dealing with the social, moral, and emotional pressures that come with this difficult job. This book provides unique insight into his work, with a compelling behind-the-scenes look at parole hearings.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780711297289 |
| PRICE | US$12.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 288 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
S Y, Reviewer
Rob McKeon is an independent member of the Parole Board and has reviewed the cases of over 5000 prisoners. It is his, and his colleagues, responsibility to consider whether a prisoner is safe to be released, and how well they will be monitored and managed in the community.
This book takes us through some of Rob’s past cases and gives us insight in to what is considered before a prisoner is let out of prison.
The Parole Board typically deal with serious assault, sexual offences, terrorism, gang related crime and organised crime. Rob reinforces the belief that the UK has on rehabilitation and not focusing on punishment, and quite surprisingly to me, the number of prisoners released by the parole board who go on to be accused of a further serious offence is less than one per cent.
Rob tackles questions like:
Is the UK soft on crime?
Should life mean life?
Do violent criminals deserve a second chance?
I really enjoyed this and found it very interesting. My husband was a prison chef for a long time, ultimately leaving because of pay and hours, and not because he didn’t like the job, or build bonds with the prisoners. I could never understand how he could work with such people (it was a sex offenders prison), and this book helped me gain a better perspective of how people end up in prison, and the benefits to be had by treating them with respect and the human rights they deserve. Sadly, childhood trauma, mental health and substance abuse feature a lot.
Rob explains how he has to put aside moral judgement, have empathy and remain impartial, essentially making very difficult, and sometimes unpopular decisions. A huge hats off to him, I don’t think many people possess those skills.
I found Keith’s story fascinating and was pleased how the negativity of Covid changed the hearing process for the better, improving technology and resulting in more cases being heard, without the quality of those cases being impacted.
I’d definitely recommend, it’s eye opening just how much work, and thought, really does go in to the rehabilitation of offenders. I was genuinely under the impression they just opened the door and kicked them out like you see on the television!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for my advanced copy.
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