A Voluntary Prison-Hospital Treatment Program for Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses: A Prospective Evaluation...

In 2008, the provincial government approved a project for the implementation of a specialized treatment program (PETRAAS) in a prison setting in Quebec, Canada, for individuals convicted of sexual offenses. Dubbed a "prison-hospital," the program was launched 2 years later as a joint initiative by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Safety to address the lack of a treatment program in provincial detention facilities for individuals serving short custodial sentences. Since 2010, PETRAAS offers a voluntary-based sex offender treatment program (SOTP) to individuals serving a prison sentence of less than 2 years. Using a cognitive-behavioral approach, PETRAAS offers an intensive short-term program that has never been subjected to an empirical investigation. In total, 406 inmates considered for admission to PETRAAS were included in the study. Using a prospective longitudinal study design, the impact of this program on recidivism rates was analyzed, statistically controlling for whether individuals were admitted to and completed the SOTP. A series of survival analyses were conducted to inspect the impact of the SOTP. The relatively low rates of general and sexual recidivism may explain the absence of evidence for a significant short-term impact of PETRAAS on these outcomes. The political, clinical, and scientific issues associated with these results are offered as possible explanations of the study findings.