Historic abuse convictions cause leap in prisons' sex offender population

Police and charities have said more victims are coming following the exposure of the abuse committed by Jimmy Savile

Eight prisons in Britain now solely house sex offenders (Getty Images)

The prison sex offender population has doubled in ten years, fuelled by the jump in historic abuse convictions.

One in eight inmates in British jails is a sex offender, with the population now at 11,150, the Daily Mail reported.

Eight prisons in the UK now solely house sex offenders, and special treatment programmes have been set up to cope with the jump in numbers.

“Anti-libidinal” drug treatments used to suppress sexual behaviour are being tested in pilot projects in some prisons, according to the newspaper.

Police and charities have said more victims are coming forward to report sex offences following the exposure of the abuse committed by Jimmy Savile.

Other high profile figures such as Rolf Harris and Max Clifford have been imprisoned in recent months for crimes dating back years.

In June Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, suggested that sex offenders including paedophiles accounted for almost half of the increase in people in jail over the last year in England and Wales.