Prison reform: UK considers chemical castration and shorter sentences

Britain is considering mandating the use of chemical castration for sex offenders under an overhaul of the justice system aimed at freeing up more space in its overcrowded prisons.

One of the first acts of the Labour government in July was to announce plans to release more prisoners early to tackle a crisis of overcrowding in jails which ministers said threatened a "total breakdown of law and order."

The prison population in England and Wales then reached a record high in September, and earlier this year the government said police cells would be used temporarily to hold prisoners as an emergency stopgap measure to cope with overcrowding in prison.

Announcing the findings of a review into how to tackle the crisis, justice minister Shabana Mahmood said it had recommended continuing a pilot of voluntary "medication to manage problematic sexual arousal."

"I am exploring whether mandating the approach is possible," she told lawmakers.

Options include pharmaceuticals that suppress libido and those that reduce sexual thoughts, the review said.

The Independent Sentencing Review said there was an overreliance on custody, and that more should be invested in the Probation Service, with greater electronic monitoring and a supervision system to reduce reoffending.

Time off for good behavior

The review also proposed a system where offenders can earn earlier release through good behavior and compliance with prison rules, and said custodial sentences of less than a year should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

The government said it would accept these recommendations but would not proceed with recommended maximum sentences, meaning the worst offenders could spend longer in prison.

David Gauke, the former Conservative justice minister who chaired the review, said the government could not simply build more prisons to end overcrowding, and more radical reform was needed.

"To stabilize the prison system and end the dangerous cycle of emergency releases the government must take decisive action," Gauke said in a statement.

"Taken as a package, these measures should ensure the government is never again in a position where it is forced to rely on the emergency release of prisoners," he added.

Which other countries use chemical castration? 

In 1996, California became the first U.S. state to approve chemical castration, for repeat child molesters as a condition of parole. Florida followed a year later, while fellow states Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin have also approved the idea. 

In Israel, two brothers convicted of child molestation agreed in 2009 to undergo chemical castration.

That same year, Poland became the first EU country to approve the measure, with persons convicted of raping the under-15s  could be "forced to undergo chemical and psychological therapy to reduce their sexual desire at the end of a prison sentence."

In 2011, Russia's parliament voted to chemically castrate perpetrators of sexual crimes against under-14s, pending a report from a forensic psychiatrist. Criminals whose victims were over 14 could request the procedure for access to parole.

The following year, Moldova mandated chemical castration for juvenile rapists and Estonia made it compulsory for those convicted of sexual abuse of minors. In 2013, North Macedonia made the procedure voluntary for first-time offenders against children, and mandatory for repeat offenders. 

South Korea first applied the procedure in 2013, to a 31-year-old pedophile also sentenced to 15 years in prison. Indonesia approved the procedure in 2017 for those convicted of sexual crimes against minors. 

Other countries that have approved the forced chemical castration of pedophiles include Canada, Denmark, Germany, Kazakhstan, Norway, Sweden and Ukraine. On a voluntary basis, it is planned in Argentina, Australia, France and Spain, as well as the UK.

Chemical castration has also been explored or proposed by politicians in many other countries which have not yet passed it into law. India's government submitted a draft proposal after a 2012 gang rape caused widespread outrage, and South Africa's ruling party has internally debated the policy more than once. 

In 2022, Peru's president Pedro Castillo proposed the procedure for convicted rapists, and the same year Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the same idea in principle. 

In September 2024, MPs in Italy approved the creation of a committee to draft laws on voluntary, reversible chemical castration for violent sex offenders.

Just last weekend, Portugal's far-right Chega party – which since 2021 has supported chemical castration for repeated rapists – won a record vote share in Sunday's snap election. 

As right-wing parties rise to power and pursue populist policies, the procedure could become a talking point in more and more countries.