KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Christian and other prisoners say they feel blessed to be part of the fellowship that visiting Catholic priests and Protestant pastors have started in Kathmandu jails.

"The visits by different Christian groups have helped us, Christian inmates, strengthen our bond with God. We feel blessed," affirms Sunil Darshandhari, a 25-year-old Catholic in Nakkhu Jail.

Darshandhari was arrested two years ago and charged with involvement in a murder during a gang fight in Kathmandu. He has pleaded innocent and said the verdict in his case has been postponed several times.

While he was initially incarcerated at Central Jail in the capital, he told UCA News, he experienced a religious awakening.

"This was God's intention," said the former secretary of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS)-Nepal. "Had I been outside prison, I would have been busy with worldly things, but God sent me here to look for truth and share his word among fellow prisoners."

In addition to discerning God's plan for his "spiritual development," he recalled being surprised to meet many young Christians in jail. They helped him establish, with the help of Christian visitors, a prayer group of about 50 inmates.

Darshandhari teamed up with a Christian inmate from the United States, Sebastian Emeka, and formed the "Nakkhu Gospel Church" inside the prison.

"Though I am in prison far away from home, I very much appreciate the apostolic work of the Christian groups," Emeka told UCA News. "There cannot be greater gifts from the visitors than God's message."

Hari Tamang, a young Protestant who has been visiting jails for the past year, told UCA News: "Most of the prisoners have been condemned physically, but we would like them to save their souls from being condemned." Tamang's group, led by Pastor Bishal Subba, conducts jail prayer meetings thrice a week.

"Pastor Subba can enter the jail anytime as he has special permission from the government authorities to do so. He conducts prayer meetings and has also baptized some new believers," Tamang said.

Pastor Mansing Tamang, another Protestant leader, visits the jails with his young students from a Bible college and conducts a course, "Walking through the Bible," for all interested prisoners, irrespective of their religion.

Apart from this they have fellowship with Christian jail inmates and "preach the Gospel to the jail administrators so that they also may be able to know Christ better," he told UCA News.

Catholic priests, along with members of the Legion of Mary, a lay Catholic group, also visit prisons in Kathmandu.

Teo Jary, a Nigerian Catholic who has been in Bhadra Jail for the past 15 years, said his happiness knew no bounds the first time a Catholic priest came and gave him Communion. Jary was arrested on a charge of smuggling narcotics.

"Most prisoners have their relatives who visit them, but I have no one. However, now I feel that I have my own people in Kathmandu," he told UCA News, referring to Father Robin Rai and Legion of Mary members, who visit him regularly.

According to Father Rai, curate at Assumption Church, the main parish in Kathmandu, understanding what a prisoner feels is not always easy, but Jesus showed the way. "He could understand the hearts of the prisoners and gave us a very important message of visiting them in jail."

Tomoko Yamana, a Buddhist from Japan who married a Nepalese and is in the women's area of Central Jail, told UCA News she feels good when she prays with the Catholic visitors. "I hope these visits by the Catholics continue," she said.

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