The reform or transformation of a prisoner is a tough assignment. It depends a lot on whether the transformation will transpire from good to bad or from bad to worse.

The latter seed to be the more popular of the two ideals and it being the bearer of bad news for many also has the charm of being the well-liked of the two thoughts.

It is a fact and true nature of the way the general public thinks of our sons, brothers, sisters and fathers behind the walls of our prison.

This can’t be denied and for many who have served their time, the re-introduction into society became a tough obligation that often deemed an impossible task and one that will lead to isolation and the furthermore or the initiation of a career in the criminal world.

Being a criminal is a contented life for some. That is if you have the privilege of being involved in some sort of criminal activity in your life.

Life brings with it its worries, and from a criminal’s perspective it is matter of doing the crime and hoping to get away with it.

But getting away is a rare thing and many of our citizens locked behind the walls of our prisons alleging inhumane conditions and treatment received by the criminals.

Their story may seem fascinating, but the one thing that can’t be denied was the fact that they at one time or another have denied a family or two a happy life and caused terror amongst the public the with their mischief and unaccepted exploits.

The blame however can not be directed towards the way the criminal or the man behind the bars think. For many it was peer pressure or the pressure you get from your friends- the demands to become a part of something that your peers are taking part in and to be accepted.

In most of our societies, this leads inevitably to a criminal act of some sort.

This is true in every housing estates or urban residential areas all over the country and lately the rural sector seemed to have woken up to the dawn of a criminal world.

And it is also true that our prisons are being populated by many from such neighborhood and the majority of the people from the indigenous population too.

But on the island to the north of Viti Levu, the angle differs in the fact that many of the populace at the island prison in Vaturekuka came from the village and farming communities in and around the three provinces that make up the northern region of our country or Vanua Levu.

Confederated to the Tovata alliance, Vanua Levu has witness the true factor that bind this confederacy that is being one for all and all for one, an actuality that has became a binding issue behind the walls of Vaturekuka.

For Nadroga native, Simone Ere, the experience of working with his ‘Dreu’(s) has being a satisfying and a worthwhile factor since his posting to the Vaturekuka prison.

The prison officer has the task of counseling the inmates and to explain the important of reform to the convicts at the prison outside of Labasa.

Armed with the beautiful smile and a personality that suits his job, Ere describes his work as one that has bored fruit, satisfying to him and has gained the support of his fellow prison officer and the public as well.

A programme devised by the officer three years before the Yellow Ribbon Programme, became the fore runner of all the rehabilitation programmes at the Vaturekuka Prison and most probably all of the correctional facilities in the country.

Initiated on the 14th day of October 2005, the ‘Case Management Client’ programme was aimed at the rehabilitation of inmates and the support rendered to them once they live in Vaturekuka Prison.

‘The Programme mainly targets the treatment of an inmate once he lives Vaturekuka and to us this means the support we give each and everyone of our inmates and for us the people we have here are mainly from our villages and farming is part of their lives which was an issue that we took advantage of in our quest to reform an inmate’.

Forming an alliance with the Department of Agriculture, the Prisons & Corrections Services saw the importance of supporting a law defaulter was he return to his village.

“Once the departure from Vaturekula is made, the former inmates will be left on his own and we saw that our support will be needed to help them get back on track so the link with the Department of Agriculture is very important to us,” Ere said.

The programme of returning the former inmates to the land is covered in the CMC as the principal plan of rehabilitating the former inmates.

Close to forty inmates have benefited from the programme and as Agriculture Field Officer Rupeni Rabici said farming and the support that each former inmates get while on the farm is a feature of the Department roles.

“The Department at the onset is quiet involved with this programme and the inmates are trained while in prison where most of the practical works are carried out on the prison farm and we are to support the prison department and their residents in their request,” Rabici said. 

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