I’m on a parole board – listed below are the sickening questions I’ve to ask
A parole board member has revealed the sickening questions he has to ask paedophiles when they want to be released from prison.
Since 2012, Rob McKeon has helped decide the fate of more than 5,000 prisoners during his career, including one person who told him he ‘liked strangling people’.
As a member of the Parole Board for England & Wales, he decides whether prisoners serving sentences for horrendous crimes are safe to be released.
Among the inmates to be assessed by Mr McKeon are child abusers and sex offenders.
It is during their parole board hearing that he is forced to ask questions that members of the public would find particularly distressing.
A parole board officer has revealed the sickening things he had to ask paedophiles when they wanted to be released from prison (stock image)
Roughly 0.5% of prisoners who are released on parole go on to commit further offences (stock image)
In one particular circumstance, he recalled having to ask a child sex offender ‘how often does he masturbate in prison, and what does he think about?’
But Mr McKeon said he is forced to put the nature of the offence to one side and focus solely on whether they were still a risk to the public.
He said: ‘I think everybody deserves an opportunity to show whether they can reform or not. It’s not for me to decide sentencing.’
Last year, more than 4,000 prisoners were released from prison, with 11,300 remaining in jail.
Out of the prisoners McKeon released, only three were accused of serious offences, while in total roughly 0.5% of prisoners released on parole go on to commit further offences.
Speaking to the Guardian, McKeon also explained how some cases were straightforward, such as with the man who admitted he ‘liked strangling people’, but others were much more complex.
Discussing the potential for a criminal he allowed to be released to then reoffend, the former parole officer said he does not lose sleep over the decision, explaining: ‘I will be fairly certain as to what I think the right decision is.’
McKeon went on to say how the whole point of parole is to give people the opportunity to change.
‘People do awful things, but some of those people won’t do it again, and it’s about being able to identify those people,’ he said.
‘Sometimes I worry that kneejerk reactions are “lock them up and throw away the key”. There are some crimes where life should absolutely mean life, and we see that with whole-life orders. In others, there is the opportunity to change.’
Last year, Mr McKeon sat on the panel for notorious prisoner Charles Salvador, known as Charles Bronson, whose parole was refused.
Throughout his career he has had to deal with manipulators and liars. Explaining how he deals with this, he said: ‘Go where the evidence tells you, because making decisions based on gut feeling is a terrible way to do things, and you’ll get it wrong.
‘There are two sides to every story and you always need to have proof. Don’t just take anybody’s word for it.’
Last year, more than 4,000 prisoners were released from prison, with 11,300 remaining in jail (stock image)
Parole board member Rob McKeon said: ‘There are some crimes where life should absolutely mean life, and we see that with whole-life orders. In others, there is the opportunity to change’ (stock image)
‘I’m not influenced by the front pages of any newspapers, or what politicians may say, or what government views may be at any particular point, or what the public may be outraged by on social media. I make decisions based on risk.’
At the beginning of this month it was revealed that domestic abusers are set to be released from behind bars under Labour’s new early release scheme.
The governments ‘SDS40’ scheme, could see prisoners automatically freed after serving between 40 to 45 per cent of their prison time, as ministers attempt to tackle the overcrowding crisis in UK prisons.
Among the 1,700 set to walk free are a man who told his partner he was ‘enjoying’ attacking her and another who strangled his partner and broke her jaw, The Times reports.
Under Sir Keir’s Starmer’s new scheme, Connor Shaw will only serve 13 months of his prison sentence after subjecting his partner to years of mental and physical abuse.
He was originally sentenced 32 months behind bars after breaking her jaw, strangling her, and threatening to throw acid in her face.
Another abuser who will be granted freedom after serving barely half of his prison sentence is Shane Riley.
The then 44-year-old said he was ‘enjoying’ assaulting his partner as he punched, kicked ,and headbutted the victim in her Soham home when she broke off their relationship on June 8, 2020.
He was sentenced to 23 months for causing actual bodily harm, common assault, making threats to kill, and criminal damage. He will serve less than nine months.
