Justice Ministry gives to prisons fellowship

Caption:  (Middle) Secretary Kalinoe handing over dummy cheque to PNGPF Rep (picture by Lionel Mungae)

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, May 18, 2014 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

THE Department of Justice through its Restorative Justice and Crime Prevention Branch has come to the aid of long serving partner and faith based organisation PNG Prison Fellowship (PNGPF) Inc with a cheque of K30,340.

It comes as the department led by its Secretary Dr Lawrence Kalinoe were concerned at the subsequent winding of the organisations prison outreach programs that have been a vital aspect in the rehabilitation of prisoners in Correctional Services institutions around the country.

Secretary Kalinoe paid tribute to the organisation’s founding members both the late former Chief Justice Sir Mari Kapi, and the late Sir Kapi Nato, both of whom he said created a legacy that has been part of the justice system for too long.

“We want to say that the work done by PNG Prison Fellowship we cannot do because the system causes us to be arm strung by positions, and we do not have enough people to look into the areas that the organisation has been doing,” Kalinoe said.

“The relationship with church and faith based organisations is critical in what we aim to achieve in the justice system.”

“Churches represent a very big resource in the country and it is only common sense that we utilise that resource.”

He added that PNGPF played a vital role in rehabilitating prisoners especially in terms of the parole process.

National Director for PNGPF Moale Vagi paid tribute to the founders of the organisation which he said was established in the country in 1979 as a branch of Prison Fellowship International.

“We did not expect this, and we thank God and the Department of Justice and Attorney General,” Vagi said.

“We have a lot of programmes that have been stranded due to a lack of funding, and this assistance will be focused on three of our main programmes.”

The funding will be put into the Sycamore Tree Programme that aims to bring prisoners together with victims of crimes to assist in healing wounds; the Dealmakers Programme will take reformed prisoners out into the schools to share their experiences on the consequences of getting into trouble with the law.

Finally the Industry Redevelopment Program aims to build a bridge between the prison and the community by providing technical skills to prisoners to enhance their knowledge and ability to give back to the community through specialised job skills.