Sex offender scheme - Inadequate planning

The suspension of the Sex Offender Programme (SOP) at Arbour Hill Prison has attracted a degree of attention, but the real scandal has been the inadequacy of even that programme, which was the only dedicated treatment for sex offenders. Only 42 of the 578 sex offenders released in the past five years completed SOP.

A further 115 sex offenders are due to be released within the next 18 months, but only 10 of those have completed the course. The Prison Service contends that it is reviewing its rehabilitation service and hopes to have a replacement programme in place next January.

This is not good enough. The replacement programme should have been ready before the existing programme was scrapped, especially when they are only considering a new programme at this stage.

Prison is supposed to be a place of rehabilitation as well as punishment. Rehabilitation involves treatment, but what is happening is little more than a sick joke. Proper treatment is essential, otherwise jail becomes just a training ground for more sophisticated criminals.

They will be better prepared to avoid detection next time. In the area of impulsive sexual behaviour this could mean that those sex offenders will be all the more dangerous.