CSSI Eyes New Prisons, Community Service Sentencing

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The country’s prisons are overcrowded, prompting Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Solomon Islands (CSSI), Mactus Forau, to explore options for building more facilities and introducing community service sentencing for minor offenders.

Appearing before the Parliamentary inquiry into the New Public Service Bill 2025, Forau admitted that “our prisons are overcrowded,” noting that only Rove and Tetere Correctional Centres still have available spaces.

Currently, the national prison system has 614 beds, with 585 already occupied.
“All our smaller prisons are overcrowded; we only have spaces at Rove and Tetere,” Forau said.

The CSSI Commissioner revealed he has been visiting provinces to identify land for new prisons. However, funding remains a major setback.
“When I find land, then there is another problem—there’s no money to build the prisons,” he explained.

Forau said financial challenges have also encouraged CSSI to consider alternatives, such as Community Service Justice (CSJ), which is already being used in Vanuatu.

He recently visited Vanuatu to study the model and believes it could also work well in Solomon Islands.
“We are currently reviewing the Correctional Service Act, and we would like to include CSJ in it,” he said.

Under CSJ, offenders convicted of minor crimes may be sentenced to community service or other non-custodial options under supervision, instead of serving time in prison.