§ Mr. FaberTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what facilities are available in Her Majesty's prisons for the counselling and rehabilitation of convicted rapists; how widespread are these facilities; and if their use is compulsory.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. David Faber, dated 3 November 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the counselling and rehabilitation of convicted rapists. Since 1992, the Prison Service in England and Wales has been running substantial treatment programmes for sex offenders, both rapists and child molesters, in 17 adult prisons and one young 1339W offender institution. Four more establishments will shortly join the programme.During the year ending 31 March 1994, the Prison Service assessed the treatment needs of 904 sex offenders and treated 439 inmates on this programme.Originally inmates serving sentences of four years or more for a sex offence were targeted and we are now able to offer the programme to all adult male offenders in this category. We are expanding the programme to any prisoner who wishes to have treatment and has sufficient sentence length to complete the programme, including suitable young offenders.The programme is not compulsory because an inmate must be motivated to change his behaviour for the programme to be effective. However, since successful completion of the programme is regarded as an essential part of preparation for release, a prisoner's participation and performance during the programme will be considered when parole decisions are made.