Fiji Corrections Service and Methodist Church working out a plan to help rehabilitate inmates

The Fiji Corrections Service and the Methodist Church in Fiji are meeting in Novotel, Lami today to map out new strategies to help support the rehabilitation of inmates.

This meeting comes as the Fiji Corrections Service actively focuses on strengthening its Care Networks which work on rehabilitating inmates after they are released.

The Fiji Corrections Service says each inmate upon admission into the prison is also identified by their religious denomination as this is an integral part of inmates’ rehabilitation.

Statistics released by the Fiji Corrections Service indicate that there were 1,739 inmates in our prisons between June and July in 2016 out of which 468 were Methodists.

Provincial representation showed that 210 people from the province of Tailevu were imprisoned in 2016 which was the highest in comparison to other provinces.

Corrections Commissioner Francis Kean says they do not want to pinpoint any religious denomination but they are grateful to the Methodist Church in Fiji for agreeing to be part of the Yellow Ribbon Symposium.

He says they are hoping to also engage the Catholic Church.

As of 31st July this year, the rate of convicted felons that resort back to crime after they have been released was recorded at 1.5% which is equivalent to 27 people.

For the same period last year, the rate was 4.7% which is compared to 72 people.

Kean says this 1.5% is the lowest rate recorded over the past 10 years.