innocent children in prisons were also severely affected in this regard. Diet and other food needs • Food was available in some Prisons with farms. Those without farms were faced acute shortage of food. At times food provided was not properly prepared and was mostly of inadequate nutritional value. Just as the whole country was affected by hyperinflation among economic problems - shortage of basic needs like cooking oil and sugar continued to affect operations of prisons and welfare of inmates. Budgetary allocations to the prisons were also very low. In fact the general prisoners’ requirements prescribed in statutory instrument 1 of 1996 fell far short in the prisons. Prisoners were supposed to be given bread, tea, margarine or jam, milk,sugar among basic needs but these were not available. They were taken for leisure items as one inmate related. Mostly they were given sadza (starch alone) and vegetables and not much exposed to a full diet. This saw some of the inmates suffering from pellagra partly contributed to high death rates in the prisons. Also most worrying were children living with their incarcerated mothers in prisons who were not allocated their own rations. They had to share rations with their jailed mothers. This saw the children having inadequate food. They were further exposed to diseases like kwashiorkor in the prisons. This saw ZACRO stepping up its intervention involving rendering humanitarian assistance to the prisons. Medical and drugs supplies proportion of the general population • Predisposing conditions like in the prisons was affected with overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor HIV/AIDS which explains why food preparation and inadequate ZACRPO had to step up intervention washing facilities rendered prisoners efforts towards fight against extremely vulnerable to some HIV/AIDS in prisons. common diseases like diarrhea, Most appreciated is that - though in cholera, malaria, TB and HIV /Aids. Zimbabwe Anti – Retroviral Tablets In the face of shortage of medicines (ARVs) were expensive these were and medical equipment prisoners available in prisons. The main obliged to buy their own medicines problem was that nutritious food was through their families. But the not available which was necessary to obvious truth was that only those boost immunity of inmates affected with money afforded the much by the pandemic. The shortage of needed drugs. food in most prisons remained a • On the other hand a high scenario undermining disease mitigation programs in the prisons Educational needs Despite that Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “everyone (including prisoners) has the right to education, this universally acknowledged right was not enjoyed by many prisoners. This was due to break down of social relations and support hence they lacked resources to fully pursue education in the prisons. This saw ZACRO intervening towards boosting educational needs and development for prisoners mainly by supplying them with learning materials such as text books and stationery while the organization paid examination and trade tests fees for inmates. Only disturbing was that there were no check and balances on educational development in the prisons. The ZPS 11