Parole officers (POs) support rehabilitation and desistance but face mental health challenges and occupational stressors. Parole Work in Canada provides novel insight into the occupational routines, mental health impacts, and identities of this oft-overlooked group of correctional workers. The authors conducted 150 interviews with POs employed in Canada's federal correctional system and traverse prison and community spaces in their analyses. They also examined how workplace culture and relationships affect POs' well-being, provide implications for occupational routines created by COVID-19; interrogate organizational structures, culture, and practice; and unpack how POs understand carceral space, self-presentation, and the tensions between supervising and supporting criminalized people.

Rosemary Ricciardelli is a professor (PhD) in the School of Maritime Studies and Research Chair in Safety, Security, and Wellness at Memorial University of Newfoundland's Fisheries and Maritime Institute. Elected to the Royal Society of Canada, her research centers on evolving understandings of gender, vulnerabilities, risk, and experiences and issues within different facets of the criminal justice system.
Mark Norman is an assistant professor at St. Francis Xavier University whose research interests lie at the intersections of criminology, sociology, and health studies.
Katharina Maier is an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg. She is interested in examining issues around punishment and penal governance, prisoner reentry and penal supervision, policing, urban poverty and social marginality, and the work of frontline penal actors.
Micheal P. Taylor is qualifying for his PhD while researching responsivity and organizational learning in the Ocean and Public Safety Laboratory at Memorial University of Newfoundland's Fisheries and Maritime Institute. He is informed by his provincial practice, from 2016-2022, when he worked as a probation and parole officer.