He told me: “We forgot you. You’ve gone through the system and you’ve been forgotten. That’s why your report wasn’t written”.

— Billy

[I hate how] they are so blasé about it […] I’ve done so much […] to better myself, to get myself in a good position. [OMU staff] turn around and say to me, “Oh, well, I don’t really know what you’ve been up to.”

— Ebo

[I just want to] get it over and done with because […] it is late by 13 months. I just want to know […] All this time [since the last assessment] is limbo.

— Tom

I’m going to get to the stage where [I say] ‘That’s YOUR parole board. I’m not even engaging. Just leave me alone.’ […] They keep dangling the carrot, and just as I get to the carrot, they hit me with a fucking stick.

— Fred

I’ve got my empathy back. I mean, [now] I can stop and help somebody, if they need help, not just sort of walk off and say, ‘That’s not my problem, that’s not my business.’ It IS my business.

— Daniel

I didn’t know then that I could be kind to people, you know?

— Jeff

I mean, my beliefs are still the same. I haven’t changed my beliefs. The only thing I will not do in the future is inflict my beliefs on somebody else

— Grant

They were so intent on the fact that [I’ve been prescribed codeine] for pain […] They spent maybe even half an hour talking about it, which is [more than] they talked about the crime I committed.

— Frank

What the Parole Board did say, was, we don’t focus on the positives, because they’re a given. We’re here to focus on the negatives.

— Frank

I understand the reasons why […] Their job is to protect the public […] If I got into a relationship, of course there’s a bloody increased risk. But it’s not what I want.

— Grant

What I’ve gained [in prison] is healing from trauma. I understand that there is that risk. But I still believe that everybody should be treated as an individual because each individual case is completely different.

— Nicholas

90% of us in this jail tell [parole boards] what they want to know.

— Taylor

Performative styles:

• Defensive minimalism: “yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir” (Alf)
• Calculated compliance: engage “because I had to”, self-disclosure on a “need-to-know basis” (Nixon)
• Full disclosure: “you just lay your soul bare” (Daniel) but risk your own wellbeing
• Narrative negotiation: carving out space for personal narratives

[I told them] I’m not proud of the way I was […] In relation to the affairs. I can openly that. I said, ‘No-one deserves that, I wouldn’t want that for my daughters.’ It’s a matter then of just having empathy to the […] hurt and the pain you’ve caused.

— Ian

Chris was asked about the possibility of encountering his co-defendant after release. Pressed repeatedly, he eventually snapped.

‘What if you meet him?’ […] ‘What if you can’t avoid him?’ […] ‘What if he follows you?’ […] ‘What if he won’t go away?’ […] ‘What if the police don’t come?’ ‘Well then, I’ll fucking kill him!’ It took half an hour, that did. That’s the answer he wanted.

— Chris

It’s like having a pair of scales, yeah? And they’ve got a big weight already fucking tilting the scales on one side that says ‘public protection’.

— Fred

It’s the hope that kills you.

— Derek