Yesterday (Tuesday, 28 September), the General Manager of British American Tobacco Mr Michael Penrose and his team of executive managers made a $5000 donation to the FPCS latest rehabilitation programme CARE (Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-offenders)

 

While the Fiji Prisons and Corrections Service’s (FPCS) Yellow Ribbon Programme and Rehabilitation Framework has made huge inroads, the wardens still have one major difficulty and that is who they hand the rehabilitated ex-offender to at the completion of their sentence.

 

However, this dilemma may be a thing of the past once CARE is launched at the end of October, 2010.

 

The objectives of CARE are;

1.       To improve the quality of rehabilitation services through knowledge sharing

2.       To build awareness and understanding of the rehabilitation processes among the general public

3.       To increase efficiency by reducing duplication of work and services between member agencies

4.       To create a flawless transfer of offenders from incare (prison) to aftercare (released).

 

In a nutshell CARE is the mobilization and facilitation of the community to take action towards rendering appropriate support services to help ex-offenders and their families re-integrate successfully into society.

 

Mr Penrose and his executive team before presenting the cheque were first given an overview of the FPCS goals, its strategies and its challenges.

 

In making the presentation, Mr Penrose said that the donation which will be used as seedling for CARE is a formation of a partnership that will contribute to the greater good.

 

“We have a responsibility to give back to the community that we operate in.

 

“Private, public partnership is so critical, we rely on you guys (FPCS) and you rely on us, this is a partnership for the greater good.

 

“From the presentation it is obvious that if we can assist you in terms of turning inmates into productive citizens.

 

“What we are doing is setting the stage for sustainability.”

 

Accepting the donate, FPCS Commissioner Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua said that by coming on board BAT has shown that as a major cooperation they also play a part in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders.

 

“I am so happy that as one of the major corporations you have realised that our end product is a change person that we give back to society.

 


www.corrections.org.fj