Khami Maximum Prison, Matabeleland Province (Background Info). Health Section The prison - one of the biggest prisons in Matebeleland had a holding capacity of 900 inmates. Of these 300 were sick with different ailments including HIV and Aids. Thirty five were admitted at the prison hospital and 80 were under Anti Retroviral Treatment. ZACRO held several meetings with different people including: the officer in charge; prison Chaplin, regional rehabilitation officers, programs officer, hospital matron, head of education, The prison is designated into four sections- A, B, C, and D and the hospital. Khami Maximum was part of a prison complex which housed Khami Medium, Mlondolozi, Khami Female, and Mlondolozi Mental Hospital Prison. All other prisons were serviced by Khami Maximum hospital where all the sick were referred to. However the hospital faced challenges like shortage of drugs and other materials to use like gloves while it did not have a mortuary and bodies were taking long before collected. The prison experienced; Lack of drugs like crotrea, material and equipment to use like gloves and trolleys, food crisis and special diet for the sick. General hygiene materials ie soap, Vaseline and toothpaste. The hospital with a laboratory had nurses, other offenders who worked there as nurse aids and lab scientist who does the testing Some officers at the centre who did peer education were helping with the training. The offenders welcomed the peer education program but emphasized on the need for psycho social support and an effective counseling scheme as the previous sessions that had been conducted by the New Start Centre had not yielded the positive result but instead has caused an increase in the death rate. Education Section challenges Challenges A total of 252 offenders were pursuing education from basic to tertiary level. There were 23 grade seven, 35 O level, 9 A level and 10 tertiary level students. Challenges: The prison - an examination centre had no furniture for the students to sit on. The training depot helped only when there were no recruits on training - There is a library and a librarian too but books in the library were obsolete and out of syllabus while there was strong need for text books to facilitate easy learning. Exam materials like stationery were needed urgently while they were about to write the 2008 examinations. Other needs included: Chalks, boards and materials for preschool level. The prison further requested recreational materials like balls for offenders in their spare time. They also wanted postage stamps for inmates to communicate their relatives. Table Six……….. 29