Sex offenders ‘can’t get proper treatment in jail’
Fr Declan Blake, the spokesman for the Irish Prison Chaplains Association, said society couldn’t expect sex offenders not to reoffend if there was no treatment in prison.
Fr Blake is based in Arbour Hill, the main institution for convicted sex offenders in Ireland.
It’s also the only prison with a specific sex offender programme, which can cater for eight people over the year.
“In Arbour Hill we have one psychologist working full time on the sex offenders programme. Apart from that group, no one else sees her on a one-to-one basis.”
He said that in effect there was no psychologist in Arbour Hill.
“A lot of offenders are in for very serious crimes. A lot needed help before they came in. A lot ended up in prison because they never got help for their own personal problems. The services are just not there, or lacking greatly.
“I know all the lads very well and they do need help. A lot are crying out for help and it’s just not there,” said Fr Burke. “They are looking for help, it’s just not there. There’s only one programme. It runs in Arbour Hill, but it’s for whole prison system.”
He said there were between 250-300 sex offenders in the system.
“If people are just getting out, going through the system and don’t get any help, and society expects them to go out and do well and not reoffend, if they don’t get any help what do you expect? They are going out as bad as when they went in.”
There was a second sex offender programme in the Curragh Place of Detention. When that was closed last year the prisoners were transferred to the Midlands, which has no such programme.
A Prison Service spokesman said that there was only one sex offender programme due to “a lack of suitably motivated offenders”.
He said every offender can apply for the programme, but priority is given to those near their release date.
The Prison Service Annual Report 2003, said several factors contributed to a lack of offenders undergoing treatment, including:
A lack of sufficient personal motivation.
Limited resources to delivery preparatory one-to-one work.
Absence of incentives to undergo the programme.
Care available
There are 271 sex offenders currently in Irish jails.
There is one sex offender programme, which lasts nine months.
The programme can take eight offenders.
About 50 sex offenders are released, on average, every year.
