It was possible to work at Bhairahawa. A workshop called The mudha company was held every day from 7am to 3:30 pm. to manufacture “Mudhas”, small circular bamboo seats. The material arrived each morning and was taken out in the evening. The mudha company has half of the volleyball court sectioned off where the tools are supposed to be kept. This is to prevent a murderer from walking around with a saw, hammer or sickle…

Thirty some people work there on a regular basis. The finished products are then sold on the outside for only 450 Rupees. That is the equivalent of about 4.50 Euros for a hand-crafted item that takes many hours to make. The mudhas are produced at low cost, as they are made from cheap material and sold at discounted prices. The workers are not well paid at all. Based on performance, a good worker can earn as much as 100 rupees a day, which is only one Euro…

The workers are usually paid at the end of the month, but some prefer to be paid at the end of the day.

It is often the ones who work all day who ask to be paid daily because they are penniless.

This tiny salary allows those who do not receive money from relatives to buy tea, cigarettes, and dietary supplements and not much else. For those who have to pay a fine or a deposit to get freed, it is mission impossible. The prison should be able to offer properly paid jobs to allow people to pay for their release. Furthermore, according to the Prisons Act – the Nepal Prison Regulations - the goal of work for prisoners should never be to make a profit, but should be to provide a fair wage.