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Sex offenders treatment programme
On 22 April 2009 The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform announced a new policy on the management of sex offenders in prison.
The policy is aimed at bringing about changes in offenders' lives that reduce risk of re-offending and enhance public protection. It forms an integral part of the wider range of interventions by criminal justice and community-based agencies.
Prison-based therapeutic interventions with convicted sex offenders comprise notably
- one-to-one interventions,
- offence-related group interventions,
- approved in-reach services and
- interventions available to prisoners generally.
Individual therapeutic work with sex offenders serves a number of functions, including support for offenders in their early commitment to change and integration and extension of progress made in group work. It also has a key role in addressing the risks and needs of offenders who are unable to undertake group programmes. Individual counselling is provided in all prisons that accommodate sex offenders by the Psychology Service of the Irish Prison Service and by the Probation Service.
A new programme of group interventions commenced in January 2009, replacing the Sex Offender Programme initiated in 1994 and concluded last year. The programme, "Building Better Lives", is available in Arbour Hill Prison. It comprises three modules:
· exploratory open groups ("Exploring Better Lives"),
· practice open groups ("Practising Better Lives"), and
· maintenance groups ("Maintaining Better Lives").
The programme allows more responsive and flexible delivery to a greater number of offenders. The interventions take greater account of individual risk, needs and capacity, with higher risk offenders, for example, spending longer on offence-based work where necessary.
Three exploratory, two practice and two-to-three maintenance groups are envisaged per annum when fully operational. allowing interventions with up to 60 offenders. To date, six offenders have completed the first module and another eight offenders are currently doing so. The second module or practice group has commenced for those offenders who have completed the first module.
The Psychology Service of the Irish Prison Service carries out a comprehensive strengths, needs and risk assessment with each offender prior to their participation. This ensures that the programme can be tailored to meet their individual needs. Ongoing evaluation allows for updated assessment of individual progress and supports resettlement planning.
The Irish Prison Service also recognises the potential for community-based services to provide interventions with this group of offenders and is committed to exploring the potential of community and voluntary groups to engage with sex offenders within the prison environment. Their participation will be within the framework described above and require commitments such as liaising with and reporting to the Irish Prison Service. Interventions commencing in 2009 will include motivational enhancement groups provided by the Granada Institute in the Midlands and Wheatfield prisons and interventions with young sex offenders provided by the Northside Inter-Agency Project (NIAP) in St Patrick's Institution. These interventions will be provided with financial support from the Dormant Accounts Fund.
Sex offenders continue to benefit from other group programmes not specifically designed for sex offenders but addressing their needs, including stress management, anger management and cognitive skills training, as well as interventions by visiting psychiatrists.
Arbour Hill Prison has been established as the National Centre with a full range of interventions and an increase in the number of sex offenders accommodated in the prison. Offenders will be transferred into and out of the National Centre in accordance with sentence planning, demand for interventions and security imperatives. A number of transfers have already taken place. The Midlands and Wheatfield Prisons have been designated as Satellite Centres where a narrower range of interventions are available. A Sex Offender Unit has been established in the Prison Service Headquarters to monitor sentence planning and liaise with other criminal justice agencies, including criminal justice agencies in Northern Ireland.
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