About 15,000 prisoners in England and Wales are serving a sentence for a sexual offence. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images View image in fullscreen About 15,000 prisoners in England and Wales are serving a sentence for a sexual offence. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Prisons and probation Thousands of sex offenders in England and Wales could get libido-suppressing drugs Exclusive: Voluntary use of sex drive-suppressing medication to expand to 20 prisons and expert says it could be rolled out widely by late 2028
Chemical suppression: why the UK is exploring libido control drugs to treat sex offenders
Prefer the Guardian on Google Drugs that help control the libidos of people who have committed sexual offences could be rolled out for thousands of male prisoners in England and Wales from December 2028, an expert has said.
Prof Belinda Winder, who has evaluated the use of sex drive-suppressing medication in prisons, said about one in four sex offenders – equating to 3,750 current prisoners – would be considered for the treatment.
Government sources have told the Guardian that Andy Burnham’s administration is keen to expand the voluntary use of sex drive-suppressing drugs amid a scramble to ease the prison overcrowding crisis.
However, ministers are re-evaluating whether to press ahead with Shabana Mahmood’s pledge to explore mandatory chemical castration of serious sex offenders, such as paedophiles and rapists.
About 15,000 prisoners in England and Wales are serving a sentence for a sexual offence, and more than 850 men a month are arrested on suspicion of online child sexual abuse offences.
A pilot programme, the medication to manage problematic sexual arousal treatment pathway (MMPSA), will be expanded from 10 to 20 prisons in November. The next phase will extend from south-west England into two additional NHS regions, the north-west and north-east.
It is meant to target sex offenders who experience intrusive, persistent and intense sexual thoughts, persistent arousal, and unhealthy sexual urges and sexual behaviours. Prisoners on the trial can be offered drugs including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as sertraline, which helps to limit invasive sexual thoughts, and anti-androgens, which reduce the production of testosterone and limit libido. In some cases, it reduces testosterone to pre-pubescent levels.
Winder said officials could be ready to launch the drugs in prisons and probation services across England and Wales within 28 months if the pilot continued to progress.
“They [the Ministry of Justice] could be ready in December 2028 to roll the programme out if the interim findings look useful,” she said.
Those on the scheme would have to receive clinical support if they were to commit to taking the drugs and not reoffend, Winder said. “I am optimistic that a properly resourced, voluntary national MMPSA pathway could ultimately be developed … A good national service needs appropriately trained clinicians, clear referral routes, appropriate psychological support alongside medication,” she said.
Last year Mahmood, the then justice secretary, told MPs she was exploring a national rollout of voluntary chemical castration for sex offenders and whether it could be made mandatory.
Two experts have told the Guardian that the plan will not work. Winder, a co-chief investigator of a Prozac clinical trial with sex offenders, said she had significant concerns.
“A mandatory approach would require screeni…