RIGHTS BEHIND BARS A Study of Prison Conditions In Zimbabwe 2018 training and work while in detention facilities, it became important for the Forum to look to standard minimum rules and guidelines for purposes of determining what exactly should be done for detainees in areas that are not regulated by such ‘hard law’ as international treaties, the Constitution and the Prisons Act. Whilst these rules, principles and guidelines are not necessarily authoritative in the domestic landscape, they serve as persuasive authority for cementing particular detainee friendly approaches to criminal justice and provide a useful basis upon which to critique domestic shortcomings in addressing the rights of prisoners and detainees. Therefore, they remain useful in supporting suggestions on how to address current legislative, interpretive and policy gaps at the national level. Apart from identifying the obligations imposed on the State by international standards, this study also sought to explore conditions of detention as they obtain in Zimbabwean prisons. This required an empirical approach to the research and it became necessary for the Forum to carry out prison monitoring visits to assess the situation on the ground. The central aim was to determine whether the conditions that obtain in the prisons are consistent with the international and domestic standards that are provided for in international instruments, the Constitution and the Prisons Act. To make this determination, the Forum, in conjunction with ZACRO carried out prison monitoring visits at seven (7) correctional or custodial facilities representing different types of prisons in the country. There were slight variations on who had to be interviewed; especially owing to the fact that the correctional facilities that were visited have different focus areas. Nonetheless, ZACRO and the Forum took all steps necessary to interview relevant persons at each institution. The relevance of the persons interviewed was determined by the thematic areas of the study and the strategic positioning of the interviewee in the prison administration. The key personnel in the relevant departments responsible for the thematic areas of study and some of the inmates were interviewed. Apart from having in-depth interviews with the Officer in Charges of every correctional institution, ZACRO and the Forum interviewed key personnel such as officials in the departments responsible for health, workshops; kitchens; schools; farms and many more. All ethical issues relating to informed consent by research subjects and the fact that they could withdraw from the research at any time they wished to do so, were fully explained to participants before the interviews started. In addition, issues concerning the non-disclosure of information obtained from them to third parties were also explained. The information obtained from correctional officers and prisoners was supplemented by first hand information obtained from the inspection of the prisons. Together, the information gathered from interviewees and from the inspections of the prisons then enabled the Forum to assess the country’s compliance with international and national normative standards. 14 EGAP