Strasbourg - Czech authorities should end immediately the practice of a so called surgical castration of detained sex offenders, according to a report drafted by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
"It [castration] is an intervention that has irreversible physical effects, and direct or indirect mental health consequences," says the report which was written based on an ad hoc visit of two psychiatric hospitals and two prisons in March 2008.
Sex offenders, alcoholics, exhibitionists
The CPT's delegation interviewed nine sexual offenders who had undergone surgical castration, and five who were in the preparatory stages of the process to be castrated.
The delegation also studied files of 41 sex offenders who were surgically castrated between 1998 and 2008. Further, the CPT interviewed sex offenders, medical practitioners, scientists and government officials.
The CPT found that surgical castration was carried out not only on violent sex offenders but also on persons who had committed non-violent crimes, such as exhibitionism, or on alcoholics and individuals with learning disabilities.
In its report, the CPT says that the result sought, i.e. lowering of the testosterone level, will be lasting. Moreover, given the context in which the intervention is offered, it is questionable whether consent to the option of surgical castration will always be truly free and informed.
The CPT also points out that effective alternative therapies for the treatment of sex offenders are currently available.
Informed prisoners?
Moreover, during the 2008 visit, the CPT also paid a visit to Section E of Valdice Prison, which accommodates persons sentenced to life imprisonment as well as "troublesome" or "dangerous" high security prisoners. It found that the treatment and conditions of detention of these prisoners continued to raise serious concerns.
The Czech authorities reacted by stating that the application of testicular pulpectomy (medical title for surgical castration) is carried out with the consent of the prisoner who is adequately informed. Further, the reasons given by the CPT to end the use of surgical castration are not "sufficient and established", say the authorities.
The AFP agency that informed about the CPT's report points out that since 2000 around 300 patients have been castrated.
You can read the whole CPT report here.
