It is important for the prison officers to have good family support that would enable them to perform their best at work, says the commissioner of Prisons, Brigadier Ioane Naivalurua. He made the comment yesterday at the first family workshop for prison officers.

Mr Naivalurua said the Prison Department cannot achieve its organizational goals by working alone, but the organization needed people with good heart and good family support to learn on. He told the 46 participants it was important to look after their families.

Mr Naivalurua encouraged the officers to be good captains. He said that despite of hardships in life, officers should hold on to their families and enjoy time with their wives and chidren away from the pressure of work.

He emphasized that family was the basic unit of every society and anyone could not perform at work or any other place, if they did not have a solid family background.

The workshop was held at the Suva Prison bure and this will be one of the many family workshops organised for prison officers nationswide. 


Department Organises Workshop for Families 

The main aim of the family workshop for prison officers and their spouses is to enlighten the spouses of the hardship and stressful working environment offices are faced with.

Director training Salote Panapasa said the aim of the workshop is to ensure that training are done to fulfill the Prison Department’s theme to strengthen the institution capacity building.

There were 46 senior prison officers from the 13 institution who came to the workshop.

Participants at the workshop learnt the importance of husband/wife roles, strengthening family and marriage life, understanding anxieties and how to maintain a healthy relationship.

“In our line of work, we are always stressed out and sometimes we take that frustration and dump them on our spouse and children,”Mrs Panapasa said.
“This is to help us improve on our work professionally and to get the backing of our family to support us”.

One of the participants, Supervisor Prisons Northern Division Manasa Rakabikabi, said this workshop has enlightened him on how we can separate work from family and how to maintain a healthy relationship with his wife.

His wife, Unanisi was also present at the workshop and said she was delighted to be part of a work-related workshop with her husband.

Another participant who asked not to be named said this was the first time such an event was organized for the department’s wardens and their spouses. 

Source: Fiji Times

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