Offenders’ Rehabilitation Crucial: A-G
The rehabilitation, the applying of all forms of aid and help for an inmate is the most important part of an inmate's time in incarceration.
And to have this successfully done, facilities at every correctional institution has to be up to date, clean and in a state to offer the best care for the inmates and corrections service officers.
Speaking at the opening of the dining hall and kitchen facilities at the Ba Correctional facility yesterday, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Aiyaz SayedKhaiyum said many people in Fiji forgot about the enormous work carried out by corrections officers. “We may be following a case, and our interest is in it from the arrest, to the case being called in court and then once they are in prison, we lose interest or we don't follow it anymore. We don't follow through to see the wonderful work being carried out by the corrections service to ensure that they are reformed and ready to come back into society better Fijians,” Mr SayedKhaiyum said
“It's important that through the whole process we are able to identify the gaps, we want to work with our international partners and faith-based organisations to help us to do the gap analysis, to help point us in the right direction to be able bring forth much better standards. “Economically, we are on a good path and we obviously need to continue down this path, we need to ensure that the resources that Government gets from this level of prosperity are used well and that we are able to use those resources to invest in our infrastructure, ability to invest in our facilities, amenities, access to water, roads and connectivity.
“We need to invest in those areas, and in the facilities we have throughout Fiji both within the Fiji Police Force and the Fiji Correction Services.”
The Attorney-General commended the work of the corrections officers in working behind the scenes to bring forth change needed in those who were in their care behind prison walls.
He assured those gathered that the Government was committed to working with people from different walks of life.
“I want to assure you once again that the Government is here to work with you and support you. To collaborate with our international partners in bringing out the changes and better things for Fiji,” he said.