Primetime - Lock them up or let them out (BBC2 Mon 9pm)

Lock them up or let them out – a question which the Parole Board are faced with every day. While they hold a position that very few people envy, many do not hesitate to criticise their decisions. For it is their responsibility to decide whether prisoners are reformed and should be set free, or whether it is in society’s interest to keep them locked up.

This three-part documentary attempts to provide a unique insight into how that decision is made. It follows the board as they consider whether a series of prisoners should be locked up or let out. The title may serve as a friendly invite for us to pass judgement, but don’t be fooled – this is no easy decision.

Their dilemma is gargantuan. They must balance the prisoner’s hope of rehabilitation with the fear of society’s safety; they must pit the sincerity of the prisoner’s apology against the heinousness of their crimes. It’s a grim predicament fraught with emotion, fear and pity – and this series captures it all fantastically.

Admittedly segments of the footage are rather sensationalised. The programme loses some of its credibility as arsonist Michael chuckles and describes his crime as ‘brilliant’. And when another prisoner is described as labouring from a G-d complex, it’s at the expense of the empathy which makes the rest of the film so effective.

But it is the plight of Barry, the third prisoner, which makes the most compelling viewing. The camera documents Barry in a series of interviews. Here he offers clinically honest accounts of his armed robbery career before explaining how he has spent the last few months making business plans for if he is released; it has given him a hope in this mercilessly bleak underworld. But this flicker of optimism is soon at the mercy of the parole board. Barry is a man of two sides – but which one will influence the decision of the board?

Prison is clearly a world where nothing is as it seems; one must always look twice. Not that this advice is of any use to the parole board: thanks to cutbacks in the parole service, the decision is no longer made following a meeting with the offender; instead the parole board only look at the prisoner’s file.

In its pursuance of the prisoners, the documentary uncovers a few of the harrowing truths about Britain’s prison system, with adult illiteracy to drug dependency portrayed harrowingly. But the programme avoids the allure of dogma, and is all the more potent for it.

Welcome to a realm where television uses ‘reality’ to enlighten rather than exploit and to teach rather than titillate. Lock Them Up Or Let Them Out takes a Dostoyevskian dive into the darkest recesses of the human mind, shattering stereotypes and startling the status quo. Provocative and alarming stuff – this is television at its most powerful.

Robert Jackman