Approximately 75% of 417 sex offenders in Irish prisons 'unsuitable' for rehabilitation programme
The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has confirmed that there have been 55 sex offenders jailed for the first five months of this year.
This compares to a total of 170 jailed for sex offences for the 12 months of last year.
The IPS also confirmed that at the end of May this year, there were 417 sex offenders in jail made up of 309 at the Midlands prison and 108 at Arbour Hill prison.
A spokesman for the IPS stated: “Sex offenders are housed separately in prison and do not mix with the general population for safety reasons.”
The spokesman stated that the number of sex offenders released from January 1st to June 24th this year totalled 109 and a further 101 sex offenders are due to release from June 24th to the end of the year.
The IPS confirmed that the number of prisoners who participated in the sex offender treatment programme, 'Building Better Lives Programme' in 2018 was 31.
The IPS spokesman said: “There are a number of reasons why sex offenders do not engage in the ‘Building Better Lives Programme’, including denial, lack of motivation, insufficient time in sentence, not suitable due to appealing conviction and complexity.
He pointed out: “Approximately 75% of the sex offender population are not suitable to engage in the Programme for these reasons.”
He said: “Traditionally, ‘categorical deniers’, that is those who say categorically: ‘I did not do this’, have been excluded from treatment.
"Nationally and internationally it was believed that such individuals were ‘untreatable’ in terms of their sexual offending. However, more recent international research has demonstrated that treatment approaches can be effective even for those who continue to deny that they committed sexual violence.”
“Based on this research, and regular contact with international experts on the matter, it is anticipated that the BBL Programme in the IPS will be expanded to include offenders who categorically deny all of their offences, albeit in a separate group to those who admit or partially admit.”
