23 August, Bharatpur. High walls, iron gates, door locks and security guards. A separate world altogether to the outside world.
Often looks like the exterior of prisons. Inside the Chitwan District Jail, Bharatpur, the scene is somewhat different. The prisoners here are not empty handed.
Some are busy sewing, some are making mudha and some are stuffing cotton.
They are only making materials from the skills they have learned and are also saving from the income.
The labor and skills inside the prison were useful in dressing the victims of the devastating flood of 10 September. The prisoners have sent the materials prepared by their own hands to the flood victims.
The prisoners have sent 125 bed sheets, 125 blankets, 125 sheets, 125 pillows, 250 pillow cases, 125 towels and 125 blankets.
Similarly, 400 toothbrushes, 125 toothpastes and 625 Dettol soaps have been sent to flood victims. According to the prison administration, cotton was brought from outside and the material was prepared inside the prison. This support was sent to the Rasuwa flood victims through the Chief District Officer of Chitwan.
Chowkidar Kirtanraj Bhandari, an inmate of Chitwan Jail, has been in jail for the past eight years. The law did not allow him to go ahead even though he wanted to help the management by bringing the bodies of the citizens who died in the flood and kept them in front of the prison.
After that, Bhandari says that he came up with the idea of how to help the flood victims by staying inside. He says, "There was no situation to go outside the prison and help directly. So we looked for a way to help from within the prison.
The prisoners then planned what help they could. He says that he has prepared materials including dasna, Tanna, Shirani and blankets for 125 people in three days keeping in mind the materials needed from sleeping in the evening to waking up in the morning.
Another chowkidar, Amrit Paudel, has been in jail for the past four and a half years. Relatives of the inmates in the prison, including uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, were lost in the flood.
They are crying. Here are the relatives who lost their families in the flood. As we are living as one family, we should also help them," he says.
Prisoners also collected what they could for support. He complains that the outside society looks at everyone in prison with the same eyes. People living outside think that people go to jail for committing crimes, they hate it. But it cannot be said that everyone here has committed a crime. "Many people have come here because they have no legal knowledge," he says.
There are 752 prisoners in this prison with a capacity of 5,500. According to prison administrator Subas Sharma Paudel, there are 710 men, 42 women and two dependent minors.
Chief District Officer of Chitwan, Ganesh Aryal, prefers to call the help provided by the prisoners an exemplary work.
"The help you have done while staying within the four walls of the prison is an action with a sense of responsibility," he says, "no wall can stop the desire to help."
