Brendan Howlin
Question:54 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has satisfied himself with the therapeutic treatment available to sex offenders in prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7215/99]
Written Answers. - Sex Offenders.
The therapeutic treatment available to sex offenders in prison is kept under review. As I have said on many occasions in the past, I am determined to increase the number of group treatment places and individual counselling available to sex offenders. There are at present 29 full-time professionals and two consultants involved in rehabilitation programmes for sex offenders in prisoners. Four of these are working on the dedicated sex offender treatment programme in Arbour Hill Prison and the remainder are involved in one to one counselling.
The sex offender treatment programme in Arbour Hill can cater for up to ten offenders at any one time and takes ten to 11 months to complete. The emphasis is on the offender accepting personal responsibility for the offence and on developing effective relapse prevention strategies. Where more than ten offenders who have applied are considered suitable, the places on the next programme are allocated to those nearest the end of their sentence. The others are offered a place on a subsequent programme.
As I have already stated, I am determined to increase the number of group treatment places available to sex offenders and, to this end, my Department is examining the possibility of locating a further group treatment programme for ten sex offenders at the Curragh Place of Detention. In view of the specialised skills necessary to set up and run such a programme, it is taking some time to put a new programme in place. Of course any prisoner currently there may apply to participate in the dedicated treatment programme in Arbour Hill. A new non-therapeutic programme for offenders, The Thinking Skills Training Programme, was introduced in Arbour Hill Prison early in 1998. A significant number of sex offenders in Arbour Hill have commenced this new programme. A similar programme has also been introduced in Cork Prison.
My Department has also commissioned the clinical psychology department at University College Dublin to conduct a detailed evaluation of the group treatment programme at Arbour Hill. This will take a number of years to complete and should eventually provide empirical data that demonstrates the efficacy of treatment, as measures by reduced recidivism amongst treated offenders compared to an untreated group.
I should say, generally, about sex offending, that it is an issue of understandable public concern and one to which I believe a comprehensive response is warranted. While I am certainly determined to expand the prison treatment programme, I believe that action will be required on other points also, which is why I had a paper published by my Department last May on sexual offending. That paper covered a number of issues which will have to be addressed as part of the comprehensive response I am pursuing. The various responses to the paper, which have been received from the public, have been considered by my Department.
In early February I sought and obtained Cabinet approval to prepare a Bill providing for the establishment of a sex offenders register, the post-release supervision of sex offenders in the community and separate legal representation in certain circumstances for complainants in rape and serious sexual assault cases. In addition, I will be examining for possible inclusion in the Bill a new civil court order against a sex offender whose behaviour in the community gives the Garda reasonable cause for concern that the order is necessary to protect the public from serious hard, and the creation of a new offence for a convicted child sex offender to look for or to accept employment or a voluntary position involving unsupervised access to children.