Table four. Initial Mutimurefu prison visit Challenges, Needs and Interventions (Background Info) Initially; when ZACRO visited this prison they had a meeting with the officer in charge of administration, the Chaplin and rehabilitation officer. There were 383 offenders, 30 were female and 3 - aged less than two months. There is a small library with very old books and another spiritual library for the Chaplin though the library needed revamping. Some offenders were pursuing education and there was a ZIMSEC and an educational support component was needed. Mutimurefu has a clinic and with seven nurses. A doctor from Masvingo made regular visits to the prison. Self testing kits could be used at the clinic provided the nurses were orientated on how to use them. Testing was done on a voluntary basis after it had been done on a large scale though ZPS officials mentioned that New Start Centre being responsible for all HIV/ training of officers and inmates in peer education and psycho social support.. • Pregnant women needed preparation for their unborn Babies, sanitation or utilities such as soap and Vaseline. • Food deficient illnesses and opportunistic infections were on the increase hence death rate of inmates was on increase but the prison did not have a mortuary. Many bodies were not collected by their relatives while pauper burials were expensive for the prison and bodies decomposed before burial arrangements were made. • Inmates suggested starting a carpentry project and making coffins and burry inmates with coffins. Inmates also needed: • Uniforms and transport facilities for released inmates, set books for examination grades mainly grade seven, O and A Levels, trade tests fees and the prison workshop to be revamped and resources for arts and cultural activities availed. • They welcomed HIV/Aids programming with some C and D Class offenders serving relatively long sentences being ideal to train as peer educators. Officers were also to be trained and sustain program monitoring. Chivhu Prison Challenges, Needs and Interventions (Background Info) The prison housed 170 inmates – 9 women and 161 men. There were four children from with two from same mother and a five year old boy in the female prison set up. One of the babies was hospitalized at near by Chivhu hospital due to malnutrition. The prison housed offenders with sentences of up to 36 months - hence peer education program could be easily implemented using the long term offenders as peer educators. The prison also had a district hospital for referral purposes. Chivhu prison also housed remand inmates both male and female. • Requests included food for children, clothing, soap or Sanitation. And one child who had grown very old needed to be institutionalized somewhere. • One offender died from Tuberculosis – which is major Opportunistic infection contributing to deaths of inmates. The New Start Centre visited the prison monthly doing voluntary counseling and testing but did not have a sustainable follow up program for counseling and psycho social support and avoid the VCT to create more problems than solutions. Government availed Anti Retroviral Treatment but serious food shortage had counter effects to the objectives of the treatment. Thus training inmates on HIV/Aids without offering further supplementary food had serious effects on the success of the program. Prison officials were however keen to be part of ZACRO HIV/Aids program provided support was involved. Other requests were • Recreational materials and help the inmates relieve stress. • The station received one ball from ZACRO but it was not Enough for the many inmates. Knitting and crouching were potential projects and help female inmates without any viable activity done in their section. Second Mutimurefu Prison Visit Inside Mutimurefu Prison and challenges faced. (Background Info) The second field visit to Mutimurefu was on 8 May 2008. The purpose of the visit was to meet the The Officer in Charge, Mr. Marange who welcomed the ZACRO and Masvingo Community initiative highlighted some of the 25