The Trials of Pa Salieu review – what hope is there for life after prison?

Sure, this might well be a PR exercise for the rapper after being jailed in 2022 for his part in a mass brawl. But it’s also a vital indictment of the appalling probation system In December 2022 – just as his music career was on the up – things came crashing down for the British-Gambian rapper Pa Salieu. Four years earlier, Salieu had been involved in a mass altercation between a group of men in Coventry, where he was raised. Two men were stabbed; one, a close friend of Salieu’s, Fidel Glasgow, died from his injuries. Salieu was convicted on charges of violent disorder and possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison, of which he served 16 and a half. This one-off documentary follows the now 28-year-old after his release, as he attempts to rebuild his once-flourishing career, which had seen him perform at Glastonbury, appear on Jimmy Fallon’s US talkshow, and win the BBC’s feted Sound Of tastemaker poll in 2021. The result is somewhere between a PR exercise for Salieu, a cautionary afterschool special for younger viewers and an indictment of the underfunded and overprivatised Probation Service. For those unfamiliar with Salieu’s