Changi Prison
Changi Prison is a prison in Changi, Singapore.
History
Changi Prison was constructed by the British colonial government in 1936 as a civilian prison. During World War II, when Singapore was occupied by the Japanese, more than 3,000 civilians were detained in Changi Prison, which was designed to hold only 600 prisoners. Some 50,000 Allied prisoners-of-war (British, Australian and Dutch) were incarcerated in the British Army's Selarang Barracks, near the prison, and the name 'Changi' became synonymous with the POW camp, even though Changi Prison itself was rarely used to hold POWs.
In 1944, the Allied POWs built a chapel in the prison. A British airman, Stanley Warren, painted a series of murals in the chapel, while another British POW, Sergeant Harry Stodgen, built a Christian cross out of a used artillery shell. After the war, the chapel was dismantled and shipped to Australia while the cross was sent to the UK. Suspected Japanese war criminals were also detained in the prison until they stood trial, and some of the convicted ones were executed there.
In 1988, a replica of the chapel built by the Allied POWs and a museum were constructed next to Changi Prison, and they were moved to a new site in 2001. The Changi Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre was also opened in 1994. Changi Prison was demolished in 2000 and the inmates were relocated to a new prison complex near the old building.
- Variuos photos of Changi Prison, Singapore
Changi in 1967
Current status
Presently, the new Changi Prison houses offenders who have committed very serious crimes, prisoners on death row (awaiting execution), and those serving long prison sentences. Capital punishment (in the form of hanging) is carried out in the prison, traditionally on a Friday morning. Judicial corporal punishment (in the form of caning) is also conducted in Changi Prison in two sessions a week.
See also
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