John Deasy
Question:305 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of sex offenders who participated in rehabilitation programmes provided by the Prison Service in 2002 and to date in 2003. [17225/03]
Written Answers. - Sexual Offender Programme.
Annually, 16 offenders are recruited to the sex offender programme annually – eight in Arbour Hill Prison and eight in the Curragh Place of Detention. In most years an average of 48 offenders have been recruited to the thinking skills course, 16 in Arbour Hill Pri son, 16 in Cork Prison and 16 in the Curragh Place of Detention.
Cumulatively, in 2002 and 2003, 32 offenders participated in the sex offender programme, of whom 29 successfully completed the programme. Last year, 32 offenders participated in the thinking skills course.
An important further factor in this context is the large number of other courses now available in these prisons, including anger management, group skills pre-release programmes etc.