𝐅𝐈𝐉𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍, 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

The Acting Commissioner of Corrections, Mr. Sevuloni Naucukidi had a meeting today with the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, the Honourable, Sashi Kiran.

The meeting focused on strengthening support mechanism and possible social services strategies for women inmates, pregnant mothers, elderly inmates, and other vulnerable groups held in FCS institutions around Fiji.

The meeting was preceeded by a comprehensive presentattion by the Director, Training and Rehabilitation, Senior Superintendent Isireli Dausiga, highlighting the present data on the prisoners populations and shared details on rehabilitation programs and frameworks currently enforced in the institutions. The framework comprised a restorative justice component where collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection would be valuable given the information and expertise available to address vulnerable populations held in the corrections centres.

Honourable Sashi Kiran reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to ensuring the welfare of all vulnerable groups, including those within correctional institutions. Moreover, the discussion noted the importance of inter-agency partnerships in delivering more effective and targeted support services.

The Acting Commissioner of Corrections expressed his gratitude to the Honourable Minister for initiating the meeting. “This partnership is a vital pathway for the Fiji Corrections Service to also gain further knowledge and expand training opportunities for inmates. In partnership with the Ministry, Mr Sevuloni added, “we will also be able to refer inmates to other private agencies for skills development, ensuring they can become self-sufficient and stable once reintegrated into their communities,” he said.

As a precursor to the roll out of a fully fledged parole system early next year, the Acting Commissioner was admant that cross sector agency partnership would be crucial to adress the array of social challenges that confronts the inmates, their families and children who suffer from the absence of good parenthood due to imprisonment. This has been proven through research in Fiji to be a contributing factor to causing imprisonment.

Both institutions agreed that the collaboration will enhance rehabilitation efforts and provide more meaningful opportunities for inmates to rebuild their lives.