Sex offender has escaped from an open prison…

Allsorts, some prisoners get a psychiatric or psychological assessment pre sentence. Our prisons are over full, large numbers of prisoners have mh problems / substance dependence. There are many illiterate innumerate prisoners. Many who suffered abuse, neglect and worse in childhood. Many should be in mh facilities.
Our criminal justice system is broken. The debates about improving it are the same we were having 50 years ago and more

He needed a more secure prison, do prisoners never get physiological intervention to address why they are as they are?

Thankfully, he was recaptured this morning in Skegness, after a member of the public recognised him and alerted police. He`s been taken to a more secure prison now, I believe Lincoln.

It doesn’t happen all the time for minor misdemeanours Lucky. Misbehaviour might mean the time within which you can apply for parole is extended or you might be transferred to a higher security prison if appropriate, as in this case. Of course if one prisoner harms another they can be tried and sentenced for that crime.

He’s one of those offenders for whom an indeterminate sentence would be appropriate.
I’m speculating but it’s likely he has a diagnosis of psychopathic personality disorder. There was discussion in recent years about men like him being sectioned and held permanently as they continue to pose significant risk. It didn’t go anywhere, there are too many to fit into our prisons and secure hospitals

I am surprised his sentence cannot be increased. It happens all the time for minor misdemeanours in prison - this is more than a minor misdemeanour.

And hopefully he will not be in an open prison.

His sentence can’t be increased but he’s lost his chance of parole for a long time.

sorry for repeat...only noticed by after

he has now been arrested at skegness lincs. so didn't get far thankfully

Hopefully his sentence will be increased, and he’ll be put back into a non open prison.

Lessons will be learned I suppose.

Perhaps now his accommodation will be more appropriate.

Just heard this good news on our local radio. No he didn’t get far.

So he didn’t get far, thank goodness he gas been picked up.

On the BBC news page just now: he's been recaptured, in Skegness.

I know we are mID Met/racism/Cressida etc etc criticisms, which I don’t seek to diminish. Here’s the but - there are many good police officers. They will know this man is dangerous. I’d be amazed if they would have supported his move to open prison.

I believe it’s the police who are saying he’s dangerous. Don’t get me started on what I think of parole boards!

Germanshepherdsmum

Unfortunately the law allows release on licence half way through if they are considered safe. (Ha ha.)

If he was considered safe why are they now saying he isn’t safe but a danger?!

I have never seen any evidence that a violent sex offender or a paedophile is capable of true rehabilitation. I think the latter are simply wired up differently in a way that means they are subject to urges that are unacceptable to our society.

That does not mean that their prison "home" should not try to channel their talents and time into worthwhile activities - their sexual urges are not all of who they are. But they do need to be kept away from the general population for public safety. All this pretence about rehab is unreal and dealing with these people in a civilized way need not mean they are placed in open prisons.

The prison system is a bit off beam at present. A small thing, but a dear young relative of mine has just been discharged from prison on licence. He has addiction problems that led his life astray. He came out carrying a box of his belongings, some of which he had never seen - no-one had shown them to him or even told him they existed: letters from family, pictures, birthday cards - all just chucked in a box. All those things that would have let him know that we had not given up on him and that would have helped in his rehab.

I absolutely agree about prevention - about investment in early years and in young struggling families - in helping them to be better parents and produce better young adults who can lead happy productive lives, and not get led astray by drugs and gangs. But expenditure on prevention is never popular with governments. It is very short-sighted.

Dickens, I worked with offenders before specialising in safeguarding. I remain of the view we should invest in early years and alternatives to prison. I don’t see alternatives to custody as appropriate for violent sex offenders

I believe in rehabilitation but when someone (sex offender) has reoffended within a very short time of being released again and again there has to be more consideration for public safety. This man has attacked children before and after being released.

I’m not a bread and water, solitary confinement advocate, far from it but sometimes we have to accept someone isn’t safe to be at large.

Iam64

I agree with you about child rapists/abusers Dickens. Sexual attraction to children doesn’t go away. The research on men who completed perpetrator groups suggests discussing their offences confirmed rather than diminished that.
There are a lot of them living amongst us.

As a subject, it's not something I've research to any degree but I'm aware of the information you've mentioned about these 'awareness' courses (or whatever they are called), and I think you're right, it doesn't just "go away". I suppose the rehabilitation 'possibility' is in whether these men can recognise their impulses and deal with them. It would take huge strength of character and I'm not sure such individuals have this trait.

It has to be remembered that women also are sometimes complicit in child abuse and rape. It's been suggested that they are also victims - of their own backgrounds and of the men who use them and whilst there might be an element of truth in this, I'm not sure I buy into the assumption completely.

I do believe in prisoner rehabilitation in principle and I'm pretty sure that some criminals who've gone down the wrong path would, if given the right opportunities and chances in life, be quite capable of reform. And some have proved it by taking on roles in the community helping those who, like themselves, went down the 'wrong path'.

But child rapists, serial rapists - no, I just don't think they are capable of reform to the point where it's safe to let them back into the community. But we have this system that seems to believe that any and every person who commits a crime is capable of reform and rehabilitation. I think it needs an overhaul, and those who make such decisions need to ask themselves if they would be content for such individuals to be released, incognito, into their own - usually 'upmarket' - neighbourhoods and communities... because that isn't what normally happens.

I agree with you about child rapists/abusers Dickens. Sexual attraction to children doesn’t go away. The research on men who completed perpetrator groups suggests discussing their offences confirmed rather than diminished that.
There are a lot of them living amongst us.

I'm sure there are some - child rapists for one, who can never be rehabilitated and I think those individuals involved in making the law regarding sentencing, early release, etc, are not living in the real world.

Quite a few, it seems, have gone on to re-offend, so something, somewhere is very wrong with a system that allows this to happen so frequently.

Personally, I don't think a child rapist should ever be released... raping a child is not a 'mistake', it's not a one-off, it's not an act committed in the heat of the moment. It's a cold, calculating act, a defect in the whole make up of the perpetrator, not something that can be 'rehabilitated' out of them. They will never change.

I am sorry to hear that - what a worry for you.