I agree with MtheGM on this thread. I believe if someone has committed murder or a violent crime they should be held in a prison, not a fun park with day passes with a few quid in their pocket from the taxpayer to go out to buy week's issue of the People's Friend. Do the crime do the time. The taxpayer pays for protection.

Smiling well meaning old tarts in sensible Barbour tweed suits and retired Civil Servants with swede elbow patches on their jackets living in leafy Surrey don't make the best choice of candidate for a parole commissioners panel. Victims of crime or a pub landlord would make a better choice and less included to boost their own social ego at sherry mornings with the vicar as they know the mentality of the shakers and makers and often the neck breakers.