Board of inquiry to investigate death
THE Fiji Corrections Services’ board of inquiry has been deployed to investigate the death of a 60-year-old inmate at the Naboro Minimum facility.
In a statement, FCS confirmed the man died at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital last Saturday.
Last week, a post that was widely circulated on social media claimed the inmate was complaining about severe chest pains in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The post claimed he had died from a heart attack.
“The deceased inmate was a known case of cardiomegaly and hypertension,” FCS said.
“The FCS is obligated first and foremost to inform the family when the death of an inmate occurs which has been done just hours after the incident.”
FCS stated procedures and protocols were in place for when such an incident occurred and it was now conducting its own investigations.
Divisional Police Commander South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Wate Vocevoce said a post-mortem examination would be conducted to confirm the victim’s cause of death as investigations continue.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General Siromi Turaga yesterday confirmed to the media that he was aware of the incident.
“I have alerted the acting Commissioner to provide a brief by today (yesterday),” he said.
He reminded Corrections officers that if they were involved in such incidents, they will be taken to task.
“FCS is suffering from the trauma; many of these officers actually operated under strong leadership, and we are trying to change that mind-set but that does not say that I encourage or condone this,” he said.
“Day one, my speech to them was very clear; they have to respect the inmates. You will be taken to task. There must a deterrent to this. Enough is enough.”