The Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) held its annual festival in Harare, in the slum high density suburb of Mbare at the Stodart netball ground on 26 July 2008 - an event that was attended by members of the community; stakeholders including civic groups, prisoners drawn from prisons located in all the four regions, prisons administration officials, prison officers, top government officials and the inmates themselves. In fact the event was an eye opener that made ZACRO see that it was worth to decentralize the event to be regional event as it helps to facilitate re-integration of the offenders into the mainstream society.As the tradition, the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) among other stakeholders such as Prison Fellowship, National Arts Council, Mutasa Meats and Harare City Council, participated at this year’s festival.ZACRO had ample time to mingle with its target group(s) who included the prisons administration officials, prison officers, Ministry of Justice - Legal and Parliamentary Affairs officials and the inmates drawn from prisons located in the four regions in Zimbabwe. The inmates had chance to perform at the festival. ZACRO had the opportunity to critically explore concerns of prisoners which they related in competitions involving drama, poetry, traditional dance and choral music while the organization focused on areas of intervention. This was befitting for this year’s festival was based on the need to rehabilitate inmates while preparing for their future in particular upon release into the mainstream society. During prison festival - ZACRO also had the opportunity to display banners underlining some of its activities with main messages focusing on need to rehabilitate offenders as well as encouraging society to fight and prevent crime. Most vital to note was that government was now seriously considering rehabilitation of inmates than letting them subjected to mere incarceration without any element of reformation involved. Hence the presence of the following top government and ZPS officials was of paramount importance towards reinforcing rehabilitation programs in the prisons apparently numbering 55 including satellites in the country as they expressed great need to reinforce liberal penal reforms in Zimbabwe. Civic organizations including the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) which contributed towards holding the festival and participated in the event emulated government intentions to dwell on full scale rehabilitation of offenders in the country’s prisons. ZACRO whose main objectives include rehabilitation and restoration of offenders and ex-inmates respectively as well as rendering humanitarian assistance to the same target group felt that it was high time the ZPS stand to consider full scale rehabilitation of offenders and this reflecting milestone moves towards provision of liberal penal reforms mainly within the country’s penal system. Thematic interpretations However, ZACRO emulated government efforts towards full scale rehabilitation of offenders. Hence a government representative, Dr Olivia Muchena emulated festival theme - “Promoting Self Sustenance to Rekindle the Lost Hope,” maintaining that prisoners may lose hope while many could be forgotten by families and the society. The problem of stigmatization was rampant and needed to be addressed. As the result – the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Zimbabwe Prison Services (ZPS) were encouraged to promote rehabilitation of offenders. This was different with the past which saw prisoners subjected to paramount torture and abuse of human rights. However modern management of prisons had 45