Commissioner focuses on discipline, rehab
Significant changes in the Fiji Corrections Service (FCS) over the years have been brought about through the discipline and changes set by the Commissioner of the FCS. Assistant Commissioner Corporate Services Salesia Racaca, in making submissions to the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in Parliament yesterday on the Service’s 2016 annual report, said the change in leadership was one of the highlights in the operation of FCS administrative work.
Ms Racaca said the FCS Commissioner Francis Kean’s appointment on March 5, 2016, led to significant changes with the way they did work at FCS.
“This is just through straightening out the rules and regulations and how we should observe the rules to carry out operations at FCS,” she said.
“The transformation was imperative after the thorough analysis and observation on strategic directions of the FCS, we have come up with some new ways on the direction the Commissioner is taking the FCS.” She said the announcement by the Ministry for Economy to change the financial year’s reports to every six months triggered some mechanisms in the service to lift its financial performance.
She, however, said the massive task to capture FCS as a disciplined force, since the inception of the 2013 constitution was challenging and they were still working on this. Ms Racaca said in July 2016 the number of male inmates increased to 1869 from 1407 in 2015. Female inmates dropped from 89 in 2015 to 48 in 2016.
She said the number of inmates entering the FCS was beyond their control.
Mr Kean added that the officers, men and women of FCS, were now focused on leadership training. He said the system had failed in the past and leadership was one area they hoped to focus on. Mr Kean said there had been a relaxed attitude from the past and the men and women in the force, in order to mirror what’s in the mission and vision, they would have to be seen to be doing the work.
“Because for us rehabilitation is central to our role,” he said. Mr Kean said to the FCS was all focused on being rehabilitation centred.
“We need to be rehabilitation officers. It’s a mammoth task, but I commend the work that’s been undertaken by the men and women of the FCS,” he said.
He added that laziness was a culture that needed to be changed and the FCS staff accepted change as they continued to undergo training as rehabilitation officers.