Sex offenders reject rehabilitation

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has said he is concerned at the low number of convicted sex offenders willing to take part in an intensive prison rehabilitation programme.

He said the number of inmates enrolling in the Sex Offender Programme had fallen in recent years.

Supplying new figures, Mr McDowell said, as of January 30, 2006, there were 253 prisoners serving sentences for sexual offences. “The number of suitably motivated offenders applying for participation of the Sex Offenders Programme has declined in recent years and this is a matter of concern,” he said.

Mr McDowell said the prisoners were incarcerated in the following institutions in the Irish Prison Service (IPS):

Arbour Hill, Dublin: 84.

Midlands Prison, Laois: 77.

Wheatfield Prison, Dublin: 55.

Castlerea Prison, Roscommon: 20.

Of the remainder, five were in St Patrick’s Institution for juvenile offenders, five in Cork Prison, four in Limerick Prison, two in Mountjoy (male) Prison and one in Mountjoy (female) Prison

Responding to a Dáil question by Labour deputy Brian O’Shea, Mr McDowell said there were three forms of direct therapeutic intervention programmes operating in the system:

individual counselling from the IPS’s Psychology Service and the Probation and Welfare Service.

the Sex Offender Programme, which has been operating since 1994.

one-to-one interventions by visiting psychiatrists.

While it was difficult to quantify participation in all the forms of rehabilitation, Mr McDowell said “many of those in custody for sex offences” had availed of one or more forms.

He said the Sex Offenders Programme catered for eight participants at a time, with each course lasting 11 months.

“The aim of the programme is to reduce sexual victimisation in society,” he said. “This is achieved through enabling offenders gain increased control over their offending behaviour and thereby reducing the probability of re-offending.”

He said 114 sex offenders had completed the programme in the last 11 years.

He said the IPS was currently examining the reasons behind the falling participation rate. He said a number of additional psychologists had recently been appointed to the IPS to try and address the behaviour of offenders.