Chitwan, January 1

Dhidara Mahato of Padampur, who has been serving time for wildlife poaching for the past 12 years, has since been supporting his family back home with his earnings in the district prison.

Of around Rs 9,000 he makes per month, he sets aside six to seven thousand rupees for his family’s upkeep.

In fact, Mahato is not the only inmate who has been generating income in prison. Of the total 575 jailbirds here, some 300 are engaged in some kind of income-generating activities.

While a majority of them make traditional wooden stools, others make jewelleries and Dhaka topi (a traditional Nepali hat), shawls and purse, and embroidery.

According to Jailor Kamal Prasad Kafle, of the 300 engaged in the income-generating activities, 150 are sending a lion’s share of their earnings home.

“As I have a wife and a daughter, who is studying in Grade six, I have to support them,” said Mahato, adding, “They give us Rs 45 a day and 700 grams of pulse, which is not enough. So, I have been using some of my earning for myself.”

According to Nawaraj Poudel, another inmate who makes wooden stools, the prison sells stools worth Rs 500,000 every month. “The stools reach as far as India and China. Jailbirds are earning up to Rs 10,000 a month by making tools,” he said.

Besides, prisoners are also running six eateries for jailbirds inside the prison. Likewise, there are also inmates working as sanitation staffers, who also send part of their earnings back home.

However, like many other jails across the country, the district prison in Chitwan is also overcrowded. Those it has a capacity to accommodate only 235 inmates, it has currently been housing 575 prisoners, including 53 women.