Fiji (From Management of Corrections in Asia and the Pacific Proceedings, P 65-85, 1983, W Clifford, ed. - See NCJ-93720)

• NCJ Number: 93722
• Author(s): V S Buadromo
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

After describing the nature of each of the Fiji prisons, this report describes provisions for correctional staff development, the forms of release under supervision, inmate vocational training, and inmate classification.

Abstract

Fiji has a reception/classification prison; a prison complex containing maximum, medium, and minimum-security prisons as well as a prerelease center; a young offenders prison; and two multipurpose prisons. Correctional staff training and development has been given high priority. Since 1981, a Prison Officers' Training Board and a Staff Training Centre for Prison Officers have been established. Regular training courses have been approved on the advice of the Prison Officers' Training Board, with satisfactory completion of the various courses being a prerequisite to permanent appointment. Inservice training is a requirement for promotion. There are currently four forms of offender release under supervision: (1) probation, which is similar to that used in most other countries; (2) extramural punishment, where an offender is assigned to public work outside the prison and under outside accommodations, while remaining subject to prison authority; (3) compulsory supervision order, which is similar to a parole scheme; and (4) conditional pardon. Vocational training is regarded as an important aspect of inmate rehabilitation. Inmates are allocated to work that will help them maintain existing vocational skills or acquire new skills that will facilitate the obtaining of gainful employment upon release. The general classes of prisoners are the unconvicted (those on remand, awaiting trial, debtors, and civil prisoners) and the convicted class. Subclassifications are escapees and incorrigibles. The different classes of prisoners are segregated from one another. The first priority of classification is to determine the degree of security required for each prisoner. Some special classification problems that have received attention are the care of female prisoners who are pregnant or have infant children, the segregation of known homosexuals, and care for inmates with special health problems.