Sainiani Boila 
Juveniles are kept in correctional facilities under the care of the Fiji Correctional Services only if a court order is issued.
This was revealed by Fiji Corrections Service Acting Commissioner Salote Panapasa while making submissions on the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 FCS Annual Reports to the Standing Committee on Justice, Law, and Human Rights.
Panapasa says juveniles are being looked after by the Ministry of Women, Children, and Poverty Alleviation.
“Actually, we don’t have any data or shared data with any ministries in relation to juveniles.”
Legal Officer Assistant Superintendent Aisea Vucago explained that juveniles are forbidden from befriending other convicts.
“We are issued with the orders from the court to hold in our custody the juveniles for reasons like escaping from the juvenile centre quite often, and we receive them, but we have confined them to separate or isolated parts of the centre so that they are not in any way allowed to mingle around with other adults’ convicts.”
Vucago says this is to ensure that they do not learn from the older convicts as they prepare for their release to their various communities.
Juveniles are either placed in remand centres or the Nasinu Rehabilitation Center.
