"Typically when a man is arrested for a sex offence he has committed many, many more sex offences for which he hasn't been arrested. Canadian research indicates one in 25 is the ratio.

"We have men here admit to scores more offences."

So says prison clinical psychologist Dr. Kit Snyder who runs Westgate's sex offender programme.

He is one of the architects of the Criminal Code Amendment Act 2000 (Number 2), set to come into force this month, which requires offenders to be assessed before sentencing.

If they are deemed likely to re-offend the court must impose a sentence of not less than three years and make an order that the offender must be supervised for up to ten years after their release.

Supervision is the key for Dr. Snyder who is clearly appalled with the previous set up, in existence when he arrived with his wife and work colleague Dr. Janet Page Hill in 1996.

He says: "When we came here we routinely saw people being sentenced for child molestation for 18 months or one year.

"The average length of time in treatment is two years, if he's sentenced to one year he could be released after nine months.

"That offers no incentive for him to be involved in sexual offender risk reduction treatment, it releases him back to the community as an untreated sex offender with no rules of supervision.

"They choose to come. If they opt out they return to the community untreated and as dangerous as when they were convicted."

"The court, by giving that kind of a sentence is not helping, even if you have the best treatment programme in the world, if a court sentences them to a year.

"The offender will never elect to go into treatment voluntarily. They always do it to get out early or if there are other sanctions."

This is where the new act will come in, allowing earlier release under restrictions which could include lie detector tests to find out if supervision needs to be increased or offenders need to be called back to prison for additional treatment.

Those who opt out of treatment in prison will be released later and will then be required to get treatment after their release. If they break their supervision order they can be jailed for ten years.

Dr. Synder says the post-release period is vital.

He said: "This is when the offender is most at risk. The main thrust of the treatment is in the community - where it should be."

To get to this stage offenders will have had to have taken full responsibility for the crime which landed them in jail - as well as all the others which they got away with.

The team treats offenders for eight hours a week, four of which include group therapy and four of which involve classroom work run by counsellor Bernice Zaft-Gibbons .

Currently 11 of the 20 plus sex offenders in Westgate are in the programme.

"We help minimise denial and help them accept responsibility," says Dr. Snyder.

"There's all sort of denial. Denial of the likelihood of re-offending, denial of actually committing the crime, denial of the consequences of the crime.

"It's important to establish a pattern in their behaviour."

There is no standard profile of the average sex offender says Dr. Snyder who has treated physicians, clergy and military men in his 16-year career working with sex offenders.

"It's like saying what is the average case you admit to a hospital?"

But if the patterns are unique to each offender there are some traits typical for paedophiles.

"They might get into a position of responsibility such as teacher or care giver to give them access to children," Dr. Snyder says.

The pervert will then groom a victim by giving them special favours and then molest the child in a non-violent way so the child feels some degree of guilt and doesn't report, says Dr. Snyder.

"Offenders typically do not attack children by leaping out of the bushes because the child will report, so they try to reduce the risk of this.

"So when a child reports sexual abuse has taken place that is a very, very serious allegation and it needs to be taken seriously, even without any substantiating evidence because there is hardly ever any evidence.

"Once a paedophile has a child like this they don't stop unless they feel there's a possibility they are going to be detected. Sometimes they bribe a child not to tell, or threaten them."

Sex offenders live in a world of self-delusion says Dr. Snyder who points to Canadian studies which show those treated in prison for sex crimes have a 50 percent reduction in re-offence rate compared with a group of untreated offenders over six years.

"Paedophiles think that they are introducing the child to sex - that it's sex education, that it's healthy,'' he says.

"Or they think it's a way of showing kindness and love and that children are sexual from an early age and it's appropriate for them to engage in sexual behaviour or that the child is not hurt at all.

"Most offenders aren't sadistic in thinking they want to scar a child for life. They are just not thinking they are doing those things."

But he says changing arousal patterns is very tricky.

"If someone said to a heterosexual that we want you to be a homosexual from now on you can see that would be very difficult thing to do.

"What we try to do is sensitise them to the damage they are doing. To build a sense of empathy with the victim and their family.

"This decreases arousal. It's hard to get aroused about doing something horrible to someone if you are not sadistic."

Some offenders lack the social skills to get adult sexual partners and so end up targeting minors.

The team works on building their skills so they can build up relationships with their own age groups.

But some offenders are only attracted to children and are more dangerous.

Around 50 percent of sex offenders are molested as children - but most kids who are molested do not turn into sex offenders says Dr. Hill.

Dr. Snyder explains the phenomenon: "When one is victimised, repeating the behaviour gives them back their lost sense of control."

To outsiders group therapy might seem like an ideal way for sex offenders to justify their actions to like-minded people.

But Dr. Snyder says inmates are quick to spot when others are veering from the truth. And the mix of offenders has its uses.

"Having a mix of paedophiles and sex offenders in the same group is very important. The rapists don't buy into the paedophiles self justification and vice versa."

And the fact that many sex offenders were themselves victims in childhood and are encouraged to talk about it also adds to the rehabilitation process.

"It helps immeasurably for people who are paedophiles to see someone else going through it. It deepens their empathy."

Bermuda has a problem with incest, but only because opportunities are increased says Dr. Snyder who says that around half the paedophiles prey on their own family.

"We have a lot of incest offenders here than in the States but that's because Bermuda's got extended families so those with an interest in children can go that route. In the States with fragmented families they would only have access to children of acquaintances rather than relatives.

"It's just opportunity."

But the problem can spill over to other families warns, Dr. Snyder. He says: "Around a half of incest offenders cross over and start on other kids."