Agreement to foster ex-inmates rehabilitation
Sixteen per cent or 392 of the current prison population are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA).
This was confirmed by the Fiji Corrections Service Commissioner Commander Francis Kean during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the SDA Church yesterday.
The MOU will ensure an active role in engaging with communities in the formation of CARE (Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-Offenders) Network. Commander Kean said the work of corrections personnels in changing lives fell in tandem with the work of the church.
“Religious organisations play an instrumental role in the process of rehabilitation and behavioural change,” he said. He said they had first worked with the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma. “We are also looking at other denominations in joining the CARE Network,”
Commander Kean said.
SDA Church Fiji chairman Pastor Talemo Cakobau said the church had been involved in caring for inmates for years behind the scene. He said they were trying to find families of inmates, especially women who looked after children alone. “They need our support and I would like to encourage churches to work together so we can create a safe community in Fiji.”