The Fiji Corrections Service doesn’t report cases of domestic violence in their living quarters unless the victims want the police involved, according to the service’s legal officer Aisea Vucago.
Mr Vucago told the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights, which reviewed the Fiji Corrections Service 2018-2020 annual reports, that prison was a very hostile environment.
“In recent months, you must have heard the not so good report against corrections officers,” he said.
“There are many factors that lead to violence.
“That does not take away the fact that violence should not be condoned. We do not condone violence.”
Mr Vucago said as an effect of such a hostile environment, corrections officers tend to take their frustration out on their families and as a result, the women and children bear the brunt of that frustration.
He said any case of domestic violence is first reported to the commissioner.
“We use the services of our counsellors, our psychologists, our chaplain, but if we are not able to resolve the violence, we will usually give them the option to report it to the police.
“We do not condone suppressing this from the police. We give them the opportunity to do so, but when we talk about families, at the end of the day, it is the families who are going to suffer if they are taken to the police.
“So, that is what we enlighten them on — the consequences of what will happen if they do it to that extent, but we give them the opportunity and we also inform them of what will happen if they go down that road.”
