KALYAN NAGAR, India (UCAN) – A ministry by Apostolic Carmel nuns aims to give prisoners and their families hope for the future, while at the same time supporting government attempts to rehabilitate inmates.

Sister Lancia, who coordinates her congregation’s social work in eastern India, said her congregation started their prison ministry in 2007 as they felt an urgent need “to do something” to serve the wives and children of convicts.

At present, two nuns and three lay staff members visit four federal correctional homes in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, says Sister Lancia.

Some 8,000 people, including 500 women, live in these homes, according to Sister Alexia, the other nun involved in the ministry.

The team also visits the prisoners’ families on Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes spending as long as five hours with each.

According to Sister Lancia, the ministry is part of the congregation’s charism to reach out to the abandoned and neglected and aims to instill in prisoners “a positive outlook” on life so that they can be independent after their release. She added that many prisoners are “victims of injustice” forced to languish in jail for years.

She and Sister Alexia are also in charge of the “Back Home Project” that the state’s Prison Directorate started in three correctional homes.

Sister Alexia says the project links prisoners and their families through non-governmental organizations.

The nuns also educate about 120 children through a primary school for the children of prisoners in the Presidency Central Correctional Home. They offer a one-year diploma in tailoring and knitting for residents of the Alipore Women Correctional Home.

Over the past two years, Sister Alexia has visited more than 250 families in Kolkata city as well as villages in 24 Parganas (South) district.

One of the families she regularly visits is Ranajit Mondal’s. The 35-year-old Hindu man is serving a life sentence in the Presidency jail for murder. His two daughters, Megha and Payel, now benefit from the “Back Home Project.” The girls live with their mother, Mohua, near Kolkata.

The girls call Sister Alexia “mashi” (aunt).

The nun says what satisfies her most in her ministry is the reconciliation between the prisoners and their families.

Mohua says she is grateful to the nuns for making it possible for her daughters to continue their education. Otherwise, they would have become school dropouts soon after their father was sent to jail five years ago.

The nuns provide the girls with money for school fees, notebooks, text books, and uniforms. Sister Alexia also regularly visits them to monitor their studies.

Apart from the Apostolic Carmel nuns, Jesuit and Salesian Religious are also involved in the “Back Home Project,” serving prisoners and their children.