'Offenders in denial'

A full review of who is sent to high security prisons is needed to tackle the problem of offenders in denial over their crimes, inspectors have said, after a report found almost half of the 750 inmates at Wakefield jail were sex offenders in denial.

The Prison Service must question whether it is right to place such a concentration of men in denial in one establishment, Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, said.

The resettlement of offenders was being "seriously undermined by the lack of appropriate programmes to address the behaviour of the significant number of sex offenders in denial", a report on a jail inspection in May found.

"Little work" was being done with the hundreds of prisoners at Wakefield prison alone who were sex offenders in denial, the report found.

The recommendation was made three years ago, but Mr Hardwick admitted it was not an easy issue to resolve.