Sex Offender Castrated Voluntarily

(AP)  A former YMCA camp counselor who admitted molesting more than 40 boys underwent voluntary castration this week in Texas, the only U.S. state where the prison system allows the surgery.

David Wayne Jones, a former employee of the East Dallas YMCA, is the second inmate to have the surgery since a 1997 law legalized the procedure.

Jones is expected to complete his sentence this week before facing further prosecution for an unresolved sex abuse charge, said Judy Johnson, who heads the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's sex-offender treatment program.

Johnson told The Dallas Morning News in Wednesday's editions that she believes castration will help Jones control his urges and allow him to benefit more from therapy. He had previously been taking a testosterone-suppressing drug that mimics the effect of physical castration.

Jones pleaded guilty in 1991 to several felony charges of indecency with a child in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child who was not connected to the East Dallas YMCA.

Jones still faces a charge of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old day camper in 1990 during a YMCA field trip. He was expected to be jailed until a judge decides whether to grant him bail in that case.