One meal per day Two meals per day Three meals per day Prisoners under the Ministry of Justice 51% 32% 14% Prisoners under the Ministry of Home 61% 36% 1% Affairs Source The prison sinrem in Mozambique, UNDP report, December 2000 The meals are composed of beans, maize, rice and some sauce. There is virtually no meat. Fish is served in places that are near to a river. In Tete Provincial Prison and Mabalane Penitentiary prison, prisoners receive tea and bread for breakfast. Food is served in plates and pans provided by the prison administration but in many establishments, they have holes (Maputo Civil Prison, Tete Central Prison). The diet is better in open centres. There, prisoners can have more vegetables, meat and fish. However, the young prisoners at Mabalane Penitentiary Prison complained they did not have enough food, considering the physical work they were doing. Legally, prisoners are not allowed to receive food from outside. However, due to the shortages, this restriction is generally not enforced. At Maputo Central Prison, there were complaints that families had to pay 1000 Meticais each time they wanted to bring food to a prisoner. Prisoners from Maputo Civil Prison and Maximum Security Prison also complained that families had to pay to bring food. Some prisoners cannot receive food from outside because their families live too far away e.g. the 51 young prisoners at Mabalane Penitentiary Prison and some women at Moatize Prison. Prisoners generally complain about the quantity and quality of food (tasteless, no variety, not enough sauce). If the quantity of food was doubled, most of the prisoners interviewed said that they could eat it all. In Maputo Central Prison, the officers reported that crops grown inside the prison were partly for prisoners, but the rest was sold at the market. The Director informed the delegation that he intended to create more open centres to improve food supply. 16 Contacts with outside world The regime of visits depends on each prison. In some prisons, visits are allowed once a week except the last week of each month. In others, visits are allowed every two weeks The regime at Maputo Civil Prison allows visits are every day except the last week of each month. Transport is a problem for some families. For instance, the 51 young people from Maputo, detained in Mabalane, could not receive visits because Mabalane was too far away (about 300 km from Maputo, 7 hours by road, 24 hours by tram). Moreover, they complained that their families were generally not informed of where they were detained. There were some complaints about the fact that families have to buy a card (5000 Meticais) to be allowed to visit their relatives (Maputo Central Prison). In addition, they have to pay 1000 Meticais per visit, which is considered expensive, and therefore limits the number of visits. There is a project to build a conjugal cell at Matuitine Open Prison where families could visit their relative and spend time with him or hei during the weekend Prisoners are normally allowed to send and receive letters, and have access to newspapers, magazines and radio. Most of the time, letters go through the social worker of the prison. However women at Maputo Civil Prison complained that they could neither receive nor send any letters to their telatives. According to the UNDP study, prisoners under the Ministry of Justice have more freedom of correspondence and better access to the media. Recreational activities, vocational training, school, education There are no specific recreational programmes but, space allowing, prisoners can do sport such as playing football. Some competitions are organised between teams from different prisons. In some prisons, there me schools (Machava Maximum Security, Tete Provincial Prison, Maputo Central Prison). There are, for instance, 900 students at Maputo Central Prison, 400 of whom are not prisoners and come from the outside community. Generally speaking, prisoners attending school are in a minority. In some prisons such as Maputo Central Prison and Mabalane Penitentiary Prison, there are workshops where prisoners can \sods and learn skills. Prisoners with good behaviour also have the possibility of ht. n_ uansfened to open centres. 17