FCS Officers urged not to segregate inmates

Corrections officers have been asked not to segregate inmates according to the crimes they commit once they enter jail.

It is understand that inmates under the Fiji Corrections Service (FCS) were alleged to have been subjected to crimes they committed by their carers.

Assistant Commissioner Operations (ACO) Senior Superintendent Apolosa Veve, while presenting on the Humane Approach to Corrections, said it was important that inmates were given safe space of acceptance and rehabilitation and not be judged because of their history.

Mr Veve said this during the FCS Command Group Workshop recently hosted by the Acting Commissioner of Corrections, Senior Superintendent (SP) Salote Panapasa.

This workshop focused on two themes; Humane Corrections – What can we do and Building Humanity, Trust and Unity in Corrections - No One is Left Behind.”

It brought together all officers in charge, heads of departments and supervisors, revising the learnings and outcomes from the two recent International Corrections Conferences attended by the acting Commissioner and the FCS management staff in Belgium and Vietnam in November.

“Humane Corrections – What more can we do was the theme of our meeting in Belgium and we discussed at length how we, as corrections personnel, have to learn to demarcate between the societal view of a person incarcerated – which is how people see him as because of his crime and his background,” Mr Veve said.

“And the Corrections view – which is personal, where we view him as a person and where he comes from and what made him do what he did and what can we do to make him a better person before we return him to society.”

Mr Veve said officers serving within the institution needed to maintain a neutral understanding of how they viewed inmates.

“We need to be constantly reminded that when people are incarcerated, that is their punishment,” he said.

“We need to move away from the deeds of old where we seek ways to punish them further when they are inside. Rehabilitation means to work on ways to restore their lives, the loss of their freedom and liberty and being away from family is their punishment.”

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