Exclusive Interview with Convicted Sex Offender

As part of my pay back to society for the many wrongs in my past life, I give much time to voluntary and community work. As part of that voluntary work I help ex-prisoners to resettle back into the community. This is often a difficult and thankless task. However, I like helping people and it makes me feel that I am giving something back to society. One of the first threads I posted when I join Hub pages was whether a person should be accepted back into society having served time for murder. There were mixed responses to this thread and that is understood. However, I live in a world where people serve their sentences and need help upon their release.








Today I have been presented with an opportunity to interview Bob (not his real name). Bob has been released from prison having served 7 years for sexual assault. The identity of the victim was not put into the public domain during the trial and it will not be disclosed here. The objective of this interview is to establish what happens to people like Bob while in prison and what happens to him upon his release.







Q. Bob firstly thanks for allowing me to use your experiences to help inform and educate other people about the realities of what is going on in our prison system and indeed on our streets in relation to those who commit sexual crime.







You served 7 years for the sexual assault of a young female is that correct?







Yes, but I was given 25% remission for good behaviour.





Q. So you served about 5 years of your 7 year sentence?







A. Yes that is correct just over 5 years.







Q. You served your entire sentence in Dublin







A. Yes I served my entire sentence in a prison in Dublin.







Q. What was prison life like?







A. Well its tuff, living in a small space with another person. I shared a small cell with another prisoner.







Q. What is that like?







A. Well as you know it’s difficult, you have to eat, wash and toilet in a small space.







Q. Were you treated any differently because of the crime for which you were convicted?







A. To be honest, about half of the prisoners in there are serving sentences for sexual crime and if they are not doing a sentence for it now they have done in the past, its really a way of life for most in there, most are their because of drink and drugs related crimes and in that type of world rape is just something that happens as far as everyone is concerned.







Q. So you are saying that sexual crime is not frowned upon in prison, because that would not be my understanding?







A. It depends, if someone is in for abusing a child and they are identified in the media they will get a hard time, but sexual abuse against an adult is really not a big issue in there.







Q. Did you under go any treatment when you were in prison?







A. Not really, I mean, I asked to get sent to another prison where there is a specific programme for sex offenders, but I was told that that programme is closed down now.







Q. So there is no specific programme for the treatment of sex offenders?







A. Well that’s what I was told.







Q. Did you participate in any work or training activities while in prison?







A. Yes I went to the education unit each day and learned how to read and write.







Q. Are you saying you could not read and write before you went to prison?







A. Well I could read a bit and write a bit but I could not fill in forms or anything.







Q. Do you have any regrets about the crime you committed?







A. Well yes, but, it happened and I have been punished and now I have to start again.







Q. There are many who would say you should be hung from the nearest lamp post for what you done, what do you say to them?







A. Well its like this, I went to Court and I pleaded guilty, it was up to the Court to decide what time I got, they decided 7 years - not me?







Q. Has prison made you a better person?







A. I don’t know what that means







Q. Put simply, would you do the same thing again?







A. I made a cruel mistake, I hurt someone that had done no wrong to me, I was off my head on drink and drugs and I know that’s no excuse but normally I would not hurt a fly.







Q. Well as far as society is concerned you done more than hurt a fly, you brutalised young woman and left her and her family scared for life, what do you say to them?







A. I regret every day what I done, I said that in Court, I don’t know what else to do; I wish it had not happened but it did and I have done my time.







Q. So you say there was no specific treatment or help in prison for you or for anyone else who committed a sexual crime?







A. That’s what I was told when I asked for help, I wanted to go to Arbour Hill prison where there was a special programme run, but all that has been closed down, they say there is no money for such programmes.







Q. Now that you have been released have you any obligation to the authorities in relation to where you live or any other means by which the authorities will be able to monitor your movements?







A. Well I am obliged to inform the Gardai if I find somewhere to live, but if I have no where to live I simply tell them nothing.







Q. So you have been given no specific help or treatment in relation to your offending and you have now been released into the community without any legal obligation to let the authorities know where you are or what you’re up to?







A. Yes, that’s correct.







Q. The reason you are here with me today is to discuss your need to find accommodation, how do you think people will react to you when they find out about your conviction?







A. I honestly don’t know, I am not from this town originally and so I am already an outsider, I just don’t know.











Ireland



Ireland. Exclusive Interview





Q. Do you think people have a right to know that you are living in their community?







A. I suppose so, but I don’t want to be attacked and forced out by people.







Q. But you can understand why people would feel like that, they are entitled to protect their families?







A. Yes, but I just want another chance.







Q. Yes, that is understood, but why should people in this town give you a second chance when the people in your own town clearly won’t?







A. I honestly don’t know, what can I do, I need to do something.







Q. Do you believe that you have the potential to offend again?







A. What I can say in honesty is that I intend to stay away from all of those things that got me in to trouble in the first place.







Q. But hold on a second, there are plenty of people who get drunk and take drugs but they don’t rape people, are you still trying to mitigate your crimes?







A. No, I am saying that I won’t be in the same place as I was before and therefore there is a very good chance that I will never cause anyone hurt again.







Q. I have to be honest with you, I think in my own experience you have many hurdles to get over before you say you are clear of crime, would you agree?







A. Of course I agree, nobody knows what is around the corner, I can only do my best.







Q. Do you feel the authorities have failed you by not providing more help both in prison and on the street?







A. Yes, I wanted help, I was denied it, I was put out the front door of the prison with nothing in my pocket yet they spent hundreds of thousands to keep me in there, I can go where I like now without any follow up and that’s just wrong.







Q. Well Bob that call that just came in confirms that there is a bed for you in a Hostel In Marlborough Street, all I can do is wish you well and thanks for sharing your story with us.







A. Thanks.







There are presently 700 convicted sex offenders in Irish Prisons, only a small number are serving Life sentences, most like Bob are doing 3-10 year sentences. Ireland has not really begun to deal with the ever evolving magnitude of sexual crime that appears daily in our courts. Recently two Reports that were commissioned by the Government, The Ryan Report and the Murphy Report found that several thousand children had been raped and sexually abused while in the care of the State and Religious Orders, few if any of these offenders have been before a court of law. The reason these offenders were not prosecuted was due to collusion at the highest levels in our society.







Ireland is in serious difficulty as it fire manages the range and nature of sexual crime in our society. The recent revelations about Mr Gerry Adams MP (leader of the main Catholic Party in Northern Ireland) show yet again that Ireland has many Secrets and Lies when it comes to sexual criminality.