Kathmandu, Nov. 2 -- Agrani Chapagain grew up in prisons around eastern Nepal.

She was born in Biratnagar at the height of the Maoist insurgency. Her mother, Dharmashila Chapagain, was a Maoist cadre living in hiding. When Agrani was seven months old, police arrested her mother. The infant went with her into custody and eventually to prison.

As a child, she knew no other world. Guards, soldiers and fellow inmates were part of her everyday life. "We lived with other people in a cramped space," she recalled to Kantipur recently.

Dharmashila was arrested in Biratnagar in late 2001. She was subsequently imprisoned in Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa and Ilam districts. Nepal was under a state of emergency, and Dharmashila remained under close survei...