Wallonia’s leading centre for the specialist treatment of sex offenders has warned that it has received no funding so far this year from the justice and health ministries, raising concerns about delays in care and the risk of reoffending.
The Legal Psychopathology Unit (UPPL), a reference centre in Wallonia, said the lack of subsidies had pushed it into a critical financial situation.
Its director, Julien Lagneaux, said the organisation was having to pay its 15 full-time staff on credit. He said the centre currently had a bank loan of more than €300,000.
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Beyond the delayed payments, the centre said the sector was suffering from a severe lack of resources. It warned that underfunding was causing major backlogs in the treatment of patients ordered by the courts to undergo specialist care through the UPPL.
More than 60 convicted offenders who remain at liberty are currently on a waiting list, the centre said, with some facing delays of more than a year before receiving treatment.
The UPPL said the situation could create “real danger” and was effectively increasing the risk of reoffending.
The warning comes as public debate over the monitoring of sexual offenders has intensified following the Lenoci case.
Grégory Lenoci has appealed against his 17-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of his neighbour, whom he suspected of sexually abusing his six-year-old stepson.
The neighbour was already known to the justice system for child sex offences, and the case has highlighted shortcomings in offender monitoring and gaps in efforts to prevent repeat offences.
Lagneaux said specialist treatment for sex offenders had proved effective. He argued that such care was far less costly than custodial sentences or the wider social cost of repeat offending.
He added that research and clinical experience showed the risks fell significantly when specialist treatment was properly put in place.
Citing “precarious, non-indexed and systematically late subsidies”, the sector is calling for urgent structural funding to avoid what it described as “the dramatic experiences of the past”.
Asked for comment by Belga news agency, Federal Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden did not immediately respond, while the office of Walloon Health Minister Yves Coppieters said it was looking into the matter.
