AGENDA ITEM FIVE

Aisea Taoka
Commissioner of Prisons
FIJI

Introduction
Rehabilitation within the prisons in Fiji can be read with the spirit it was written in, under the Prisons Regulations 3, Chapter 86, attached as an appendix for reference. These approaches to rehabilitation are only targeted for achievement during the term of imprisonment and is rather limiting in the fact that treatment described runs counter to the maintenance of security over inmates, such that the rehabilitative goal often receives short shrift.. Therefore, ways and means of enhancing the rehabilitative functions of corrections requires a comprehensive recognizance and cooperation in the whole criminal justice system of the country and a re-focus on what do we really want the functions of rehabilitation to achieve. It is from this focus that I will attempt to briefly explain the focus Fiji needs to develop:
1. to increase in value the rehabilitative functions of corrections;
2. in terms of practical programmes for the rehabilitation of offenders; and
3. in regards to practical problems on wider implementation of the community treatment.

Increasing the Value of Rehabilitative Functions in Fiji
The design of the prisons, both in terms of the design and the legal structural framework, emphasize secure containment. This concern must change as it does not leave much room for rehabilitative functions and programmes to operate.
The physical design of the prisons, with its maze of corridors strictly limit the psychological ease within which the prisoner must live apart from movement within. Simply, our prisons are neither designed nor adequately equipped to promote rehabilitative functions. This problem is exarcebated by the unproportional ratio of prisoners as against prison officers and which negates the intended assumptions of improvement and encouragement linked to proper allocation and classification of prisoners.
To take some positive steps towards modifying the social and psychological characteristics of the person, we must re-design the prisons. A new design should incorporate into its lay out some of the much needed treatment facilities for rehabilitation e.g. the present layout does not favour counselling whereby the privacy of the prisoner is important to enable them to personally have some self conviction into confronting identified aspects of behaviour and work towards changing it. This is very important in Fiji, where both major races live a very communally "public" life and where peer group acceptance plays an important part of the social pattern of community life. A study by Adinkrah (1995:14) shows that "Fijian youths commit crimes more often as part of a peer group rather than as individuals." Thus, to be seen openly by others inmates in an attempt to focus on personal change is seen as "sissified" and unmanly. The cultural stereotyping of men as "powerful", psychologically limits Fijian men to requesting or agreeing to assistance.
Gibbons (1992) interestingly points out that "humanitarianism has often been confused with treatment." It is assumed that enlightened processing of lawbreakers will have therapeutic consequences with the hope that good food, skills training and other forms of human handling will cause offenders to mend their ways. Somehow this approach forgets the factors that have drawn individuals to criminality in the first place and as noted in a study by Irwin and Cressey, "the prison life that emerges among inmates is significantly influenced by characteristics the individuals import into the institution." If this is true then vocational training and religious activities become aids to treatment and do not deal directly with the inmate's problem. They may improve the rehabilitation potential of the offender, but they are likely to have impact only when accompanied by direct resocialization. In Fiji, the ease of mobilising a big reserve of unskilled workers makes vocational training in the prisons a naive form of rehabilitation as the personal history of the inmates would limit their access to these already scarce opportunities.
Rehabilitation therefore will have to do with specific efforts directed at modifying social and psychological characteristics rather than with humane handling of them.

Practical Programmes for the Rehabilitation of Offenders

The rehabilitative functions of the Fiji prisons continue to reflect the imported system under which the concept of 'imprisonment' was initially introduced. Since imprisonment has become the legal means of managing lawbreakers, we can only look at the practicality of programmes to be offered in terms of Fiji's social, cultural, economic and technological environment and conditions.
In 1994, the Community Work Act was enacted. This Act provides the authorities an alternative to immediate imprisonment by allowing consenting offenders to do community work instead of being sent to prison. But because of some ambiguity concerning the term "supervising officers", the operationalisation of the Act by the Courts has been limited. But this has been an attempt by Government to try and find some ways of reducing the number of young people being committed to prison. If the social organisational infrastructure to support the Act could be set up, then I strongly believe that this is going to one of the major help lines for our young offenders. In Fiji, the identification of "supervisors" could be carried out within the already existing structure of our Fijian provincial administration, the Multi-Ethnic Affairs Office under the Regional Ministry and social agencies like churches and non-governmental organisations who are able to provide care in prison and aftercare services in the community. These groups would play a valuable role with offenders doing services under the Community Work Act and in supervising those on parole. They become not only an important linkage from life in prison to re-settlement back into society, but they also reinforce the life of direct supervision, which many young Fijian offenders are culturally familiar with and understand. Non-governmental organisations could also be encouraged at setting up services to assist offenders which presently remains largely unavailable to the majority of them.
Keeping young and first offenders away from the prison system and restricting their "punishment" to community services is a more practical way of enhancing the rehabilitative functions of corrections. The very design of prisons and their legal status is in direct conflict with socialisation patterns of the people of the country. In Fiji, the two major races are communally-based people and live mainly as extended families. Imprisonment severely restricts all forms of the social life they have been brought up in and this is why the main reasons for imprisonment is lost to them.
The full utilisation of the Fijian provincial administration structure could be made to assist rehabilitative functions where it is blended in with programmes that could be made available in prison. (I am concentrating here on Fijian offenders as an example of the use of existing structures and also because Fijians made up about 73% of the total prison population in the last decade.) Provinces could identify their main agro-marine resources which could assist groups of ex-offenders, those on community service and parole to work at as a group and sell their produce to the province's flood market, which will work as a centralised purchaser from these groups, to ease the problem of finding markets individually. Since farming activities are the major form of work in prisons, the development of skills, assisted by an introductory knowledge of business and finance could be part of prison programmes together with resocialization. If rehabilitative functions of corrections are viewed from this dimension, then I feel much more meaning into real changes for the individual can be achieved.

Practical Problems on Wider Implementation of the Community Treatment

1. Fiji is made of about 300 islands of which 100 are inhabited and scattered over 1.3 million square kilometres of its Exclusive Economic Zone. This makes movement and communication, a restrictive aspect of continuous observation, assessment and assistance. These become very important especially when members of the community will have to be utilised to carry this predetermined area of rehabilitation as many of them will have supervision as an added responsibility to their existing role and work.

2. The Government has to realise that to continuously have about 50% of present inmates having had served previous sentence terms is a factor that will affect the long-term economic and social development of the country. A more dedicated approach to the social aspect of national development needs to be considered in their policies as the unavailability of resources is more than likely to kill a programme that has inadequate funding.
3. The lack of work that could be identified for community services is also a limiting factor. Most jobs which could be performed by those under community work or parole is the source of employment of another person.
4. Fiji is a very small community where anonymity is practically unheard of and the allowance of community treatment could meet with a few challenges like:
a. Releasing the offender to work in the community may incur further damages when the victims realise the proximity of the perpetrator to them. Inciting other relatives to pay back the crime committed would be ssen as right as the offender may need to feel the anger, frustration and loss that they have suffered.
b. Many offenders may breach their sentence due to shame they personally suffer in having to face their victims and family continually.
c. Getting other members of the family and friends to help in completing tasks allocated to the person is easily done in Fiji. This therefore negates the intended punishment the offender is supposed to be paying as his task becomes a family affair.
5. If the above factors could be eliminated then the mammoth task of mobilising a more positive attitude by the public towards community treatment needs to extensively carried out. Many may term community work as a "soft" kind of treatment of offenders and if attitude of the public is not changed, then it could become a stumbling block to building confidence in a system which can only be assessed after a long period of time as against "payment" through prison sentences. Linked to this, is the force that could be generated through the victims of crime who will view their experiences, against the need to rehabilitate the offender.

Conclusion
The move towards enhancing the rehabilitative functions of corrections should now be considered seriously from all levels beginning from laws, the criminal justice system, the prison design and the general public. Awareness and education needs to accompany the gearing of the public and offenders on the progress that can be achieved by our country if there is commitment and belief towards these ideals.
Rehabilitation has got to be a total package of the effort of the whole community because if one section fails then the band-aid treatment presently offered can only take us down the path of national and social devastation.

REFERENCES
Adinkrah, Mensah. 1995. Crime, Deviance and Delinquency in Fiji.Suva, Fiji: FCOSS in association with ACPF , the University of the South Pacific and the Fiji Prisons Service.
Gibbons, Don C. 1992. Society, Crime and Criminal Behaviour. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Irwin, John and Cressey, Donald R. 1962. Thieves, Convicts and the Inmate Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill.

PART II - GENERAL

Manner of applying Regulations

3. Subject to the provisions of the Act, these Regulations shall be applied in accordance with the following guiding principles:-
(a) discipline and order shall be maintained with fairness and firmness, and with no more restriction than is required for safe custody and to ensure a well-ordered community life;
(b) in the control of prisoners, prison officers should seek to influence them, through their own example and leadership so as to enlist their willing co-operation;
(c) at all times the treatment of convicted prisoners shall be such as to encourage their self-respect and a sense of personal responsibility, so as to re-build their morale, to inculcate in them habits of good citizenship and hard work, to encourage them to lead a good and useful life on discharge and to fit them to do so; and
(d) every prison systems of privileges approved by the Commissioner and appropriate to the classes of prisoners therein shall be established. Such systems may include arrangements under which money earned by prisoners in prison may be spent by them within the prison.