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Coup convict Josefa Nata has hailed the Fiji Prison’s Yellow Ribbon project saying it has made some inmates regain some feeling of acceptance after losing respect for crimes they committed against society.
Nata, imprisoned alongside coup leader George Speight for staging the May 2000 coup, said he himself had felt a little like a normal human being due to the existence of the Yellow Ribbon project.
He made these comments in an interview today during the launch of the Yellow Ribbon Project at the Civic Auditorium in Suva.
The project seeks to engage the community in giving ex-offenders a second chance at life. It hopes to inspire a ripple effect of concerted community action to support ex-offenders and their families.
“The best way to measure success is to try and ensure the prisoner does not come back to the prison and that this is what we are trying to do (through the project),” Nata said.
“The whole objective is to avoid people retuning to prison by transforming them into becoming responsible and useful citizens of the country once they get out of the prison,” he said.
He added most prisoners were cooperating and dedicated to becoming better citizens.
“They have been given the opportunity, which they should take advantage of. We are trying to get the community to accept them, give those who have done wrong in the society whatever support the citizens can because if they (offenders) are not given that support, they will go back to the life of crime and nobody benefits,” Nata said.
Speaking at the launch of the project themed ‘Bridges of Hope, interim Minister for Provincial Development Ratu Epeli Nailatikau said the initiative involved much soul searching, which may be difficult for the faint hearted.
He said the society was willing to give the prisoners a second chance by the time they finished serving their sentence.
He said research showed inmates only returned to their old ways when, on their release, find their families, friends, religious groups, mataqalis, vanua and the society have turned its back on them, and refused a second chance.
“By the time you get out, the society will take another look at you and hopefully give you a second chance. When the society does that, it erases the stigma associated with imprisonment, not only for the inmates but more importantly for the families,” Nailatikau said.
“Much has been tried in the prison reform in Fiji, but none has been successful or even gotten off the ground, although there was much talk of what was needed,” he said.
Nailatikau said the interim Government had shown support for the project by having a yellow ribbon project provision in the 2009 budget.
