Paedos WANT to be castrated to rid them of their sick ‘desires’, prison reform tsar says as he backs tough crackdown
SOME sex offenders want to be chemically castrated to “suppress their desires”, a sentencing review chairman has claimed.
David Gauke today delivered a sentencing review which included recommendations on how to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis.
The former conservative justice secretary told LBC some paedos are “desperate to rid themselves of these desires”.
Gauke told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “It is a voluntary arrangement, it is focused on some sexual offenders. For some, who have sexual desires that they actively want to suppress [paedophiles] for example.”
Sources also told The Sun that Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is exploring the idea of making chemical castration mandatory for sex offenders.
Recommendations by the Independent Sentencing Review to continue a small voluntary pilot in the South West have been rejected as too soft.
Instead it will be expanded to 20 prisons in England and Wales ahead of a planned roll-out nationwide.
Allies highlighted how US states such as California have castration as a mandatory condition for jailed sex offenders freed on parole.
And while ministers would start with jailed offenders, insiders say they will explore broadening the scheme to those given suspended sentences.
It marks a victory for The Sun’s Keep Our Kids Safe campaign to protect children against paedos.
Chemical castration uses two drugs — selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to limit invasive sexual thoughts, and anti-androgens to reduce testosterone and limit libido.
Offenders are often given psychiatric sessions to reduce other impulses.
The plan is part of wider efforts to cut reoffending to ease the strain on packed prisons.
Inmates are already being released early to stop jails running out of space by November.
Speaking to the Commons today, Shabana Mahmood said she knows the recommendations “will not be welcomed by all”.