PRISONS Commissioner Ioane Naivalurua says the total prison population has been decreasing.
Speaking at the second Heads of Pacific Island Correctional conference in Suva yesterday, Mr Naivalurua said it had been noted that from an average daily population of 1204 inmates in 2006, the population had dropped to 892 this year.
"There are many reasons that can be associated with this declining trend. However, in the absence of a study conducted by the Prisons and Correctional Service, it will not be objective to make firm reasons for the decline," he said.
Mr Naivalurua said despite the decreasing number of inmates, overcrowding had been an ongoing experience for the Fiji Prisons Service.
He said the overcrowding in prisons was mainly due to limited space.
"The current capacity of the original prison were projections made many years ago. With renovations now being pursued aggressively to accommodate extra beds, it is envisaged that overcrowding will become a thing of the past when the appropriate resources are provided by government," he said.
Mr Naivalurua said the renovations to prison buildings were being carried out to improve facilities in compliance with the norms and Conventions of the United Nations for the Treatment of Offenders.
Deputy Commissioner Prisons Auta Moceisuva said an objective of the Fiji Prisons Service was to discourage repeat offenders.
Mr Moceisuva said almost all Pacific Island countries have a very young prison population with the bulk of prisoners aged between 19 and 20 years.
Mr Moceisuva said the correctional services system was now challenged and needed to develop programs suitable for young offenders.
"They cannot be given elder prisoners' programs, therefore numeracy, literacy, counselling and vocational training has been introduced in the rehabilitation programs to augment the skills of young inmates," he said.
He said the Fiji Prisons Service was following the traditional way of forgiving and the western correctional system to enhance prisoners' rehabilitation.
"We have been taking inmates who have completed their sentence back to their village and we present them to their people so that they accept them back into the community," he said.
Mr Moceisuva said this method had been largely accepted by the community in Fiji.