Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum tabled the Correction Service Amendment Bill 2019 yesterday with the debate and a vote to be held urgently tomorrow.

The government has introduced a Bill to remove parole eligibility for people convicted of rape and sexual assault.

Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum tabled the Correction Service Amendment Bill 2019 yesterday with the debate and a vote to be held urgently tomorrow.

Sayed-Khaiyum says there’s a great need to fast track the Bill to prevent perpetrators from walking free.

“It’s only after serving the non-parole period can the prisoner be released and then you calculate the remission from the non-parole period, if we don’t approve this by Friday, by Friday afternoon Mr. Speaker sir will have to release about 143 people out to the streets of Suva where the Judges have actually decided on its case, on its merit that these people should serve the non-parole period”.

The Attorney General further explained that the amendment is necessary to give legislative effect to a Supreme Court ruling that changes the convention and the practice regarding non-parole prisoners.

He says instead of remissions in sentences being calculated from a reduced prison – due to non-parole provisions – the said remissions must, in fact, be calculated from the full sentence handed down by the court.

This would otherwise see perpetrators coming out of prison earlier than what the court sentence intended.