After elaborate paperwork and frisking, visitors are led through a long courtyard to sit on benches. A double-layered wire fence separates them from the prisoners. Chandra Rai and Robin Gurung walk by in their prison clothes, and when they hear Nepali spoken their eyes glisten.

There are 20 Nepalis in Bangkwang Prison here on the northern outskirts of Bangkok, and ten others are in other jails. There isn't much time, and Chandra begins to pour out his pent-up feelings: his anger at the police who he says framed him, his yearning for home and hopes for his family. "My parents don't even know I am stuck here," he says. "I have been telling them I'll come back soon every year for the last ten years."

Chandra and four other Nepalis who were working illegally in Bangkok were picked up by Thai Police in 1993, and allegedly forced to confess that they were drug traffickers. They were convicted and got life imprisonment. Two of the inmates have already spent 17 years of their 40 year sentences in Bangkwang, new Nepalis arrive every few months. All except two are accused of drug offences. Chandra has used his time in jail well, teaching himself law, oil painting and even reflexology. He has tried to keep his hopes high, but he despairs he will ever see Nepal again.

"Many of us were straight out of the hills, for us white powder meant flour. They took advantage of us," says Chandra. "The police had to show the US DEA that it was fulfilling its quota."

Robin is the quiet one. He is overwhelmed that a Nepali has come to see him from Kathmandu. Neither wants to know about what is happening back home, they know the news is bad. In fact, it is the reason these days for mistreatment by fellow prisoners who goad and bully the Nepalis, calling them "dirty communist bastards".
Robin says they are treated badly because Nepali prisoners can't afford bribes and gifts, and because our government doesn't show much interest. An official from the Royal Nepali Embassy in Bangkok does visit the prisoners from time to time, but the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu hasn't pushed too hard for an extradition treaty. Last month, seven Americans serving life for drug offences in Bangkwang were extradited after intense lobbying by activists and the US Embassy.

Foreign Ministry officials in Kathmandu say the draft extradition treaty is stuck in the home and justice ministries where the view seems to be that Nepali prisoners accused of drug crimes should stay out as a deterrence to others.

Given the strict laws against narcotics in Thailand, the chances of extradition don't look good. In a controversial crackdown, nearly 300 drug pushers have been killed in Thailand as the government launched a zero-tolerance policy. Chandra is convinced that the only thing that will save him now is if the kings of Nepal and Thailand intervene. He has painted a portrait of King Gyanendra and Queen Komal with a mother of pearl frame which he wants to send to Kathmandu. "We have written numerous petitions to His Majesty, but no one from Nepal has ever replied," says Chandra.

In a female prison at Klong Prem at the other side of town, there are five Nepali women. Living conditions here are comparitively better and the women earn money stitching slippers. Sita Rai smiles as she tells us how the inmates have elected her leader of the building where she is housed. Bishnu Kumari Bista and her daughter, Debaki have spent 10 years of their life imprisonment at Klong Prem. Says Bishnu Kumari: "We wish we could go back to Nepal, but our country has forgotten us."

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