We follow TB Reyes Meliano Acosta Fuarez to his visit to the prison clinic, where he takes his TB medicine, provided by nurse Rigoberto Sanchez Mejia. He is in his 2nd phase of treatment – has diabetes as well.

The inmate TB volunteer collaborator shown in the photos, wearing yellow polo with blue stripes, is named Elder (“Elder”) Cualez. Has been in prison for 12 years now and is a convicted “drug transport facilitator”.
Elder: “The support (for the TB program) we get from is really important, otherwise we’d all be dead.”

Elder reports back to the clinic. He is trained to take sputum samples.
The group of volunteer collaborators meets once a month. They discuss cases at hand and progress made with individuals. The groups often invite patients who can serve as an example for others.

Elder has been a TB volunteer in prison for 4 years, in total 6-7 years of volunteer experience (including non-TB). “I saw the need. My fellow inmates were suffering.”

“Life is not easy for any prisoner here”, according to Elder. “Especially in the beginning, you don’t know anybody.” But Elder made friends and got support from his family and friends. He wanted to do something to distract himself. He received training in STI’s, TB, tailoring, did computer courses. He has a degree in tourism and hotel management.

Trujillo prison, where a strong program has been put in place to detect and treat TB among inmates.

In the Colón department, the two towns of Trujillo and Tocoa have relatively high TB rates compared to other townships in the same department.

The Trujillo prison is located squarely in the middle of town. It has a capacity of 150, but currently there are 320 inmates. There are no cells, just open barracks and a common area. Beds stack three levels high, and in the narrow corridors inside the barracks there are inmates who sleep on matresses on the floor.