Changi Prison

Changi Prison's main building (built 2000)

Changi Prison (Chinese: 樟宜监狱; Malay: Penjara Changi; Tamil: சாங்கி சிறைச்சாலை) was a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. It has since been relocated as Changi Prison Complex and Changi Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre.

History

First Prison and POW Camp

Liberated Allied prisoners lying in a corridor and looking out of cell doorways in Changi Prison, c. 1945

Changi Prison was constructed by the British administration of the Straits Settlements as a civilian prison, in 1936.

During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military detained about 3,000 civilians in Changi Prison, which was built to house only 600 prisoners. The Japanese used the British Army's Selarang Barracks, near the prison, as a prisoner of war camp, holding some 50,000 Allied soldiers, predominantly British and Australian; and from 1943, Dutch civilians brought over by the Japanese from the islands in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).[1] POWs were in fact rarely, if ever, held in the civilian prison. Nevertheless, in the UK, Australia, The Netherlands and elsewhere, the name "Changi" became synonymous with the infamous POW camp nearby.

About 850 POWs died during their internment in Changi during the Japanese occupation of Singapore,[2] a relatively low rate compared to the overall death rate of 27% for POWs in Japanese camps.[3] However, many more prisoners died after being transferred from Changi to various labour camps outside Singapore, including the Burma Railway and the Sandakan airfield.

Allied prisoners of war after the liberation of Changi Prison, Singapore - c. 1945

Allied POWs, mainly Australians, built a chapel at the prison in 1944 using simple tools and found materials. Stanley Warren of the 15th Regiment, Royal Regiment of Artillery painted a series of murals at the chapel. Another British POW, Sgt. 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. The chapel was reconstructed in 1988, and is now located at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Canberra.

After the war, the prison was used to hold former Japanese staff officers, Kempeitai, police, and guards from concentration camps. Executions were conducted in the inner yard where three gallows were erected. British soldiers were stationed there as prison guards. On 17 Oct. 1945, all 260 German seamen of the former U-Boats were moved from Pasir Panjang to the prison. On 26 June 1946, all German soldiers and civilians were notified they would be shipped back to England on a passenger liner, the Empress of Australia.[4]:245–252

Kempeitai

The prison also contained the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police. The Kempeitai tortured prisoners there, who they suspected were spies.

Changi Chapel and Museum

Main article: Changi Museum
Changi chapel, built by Australian POWs in 1944, later relocated to Duntroon, Canberra

In 1988, Singapore built a replica chapel (which was built by the POWs) and museum next to the Changi Prison. When Changi Prison was expanded in 2001, the chapel and museum were relocated to a new site 1 km away and the Changi chapel and museum were officially established 15 February 2001.

Present Day

In 2000, the prison was demolished and its inmates were relocated to the new consolidated prison complex in a neighbouring site. In view of its historical significance, the Preservation of Monuments Board worked with the Singapore Prison Service and the Urban Redevelopment Authority to allow the front gates of the old prison to be preserved and moved to the new prison. Earlier in 1994, Changi Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre was opened.

On 15 February 2016, the remaining structures of the original prison – the entrance gate, wall and turrets were designated as the country's 72nd national monument.[5][6]

Past Prominent Detainees

Prisoners of War

Convicted criminals incarcerated after conversion from a wartime prisoner camp

Others

Changi in popular culture

See also

References

  1. Changi Heritage: Changi and the War
  2. Journal
  3. Military History Online
  4. Giese, O., 1994, Shooting the war: The memoir and photographs of a U-boat officer in World War II, Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, ISBN 1557503079
  5. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nhb-gazettes-changi/2516258.html
  6. http://www.nhb.gov.sg/places/sites-and-monuments/national-monuments/changi-prison-gate-wall-and-turrets
  7. The story of the Rice Cakes
  8. Angel Wings
  9. Tall Grow the Tallow Woods
  10. Richmond, Caroline (29 October 2013). "News Science Medical research Hugh de Wardener obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  11. John Hayter Priest in Prison Tynron Press 1991 ISBN 1-85646-051-7
  12. Who's Who in Australia (Crown Content Melb, 2007) pp 1444: Millner, James Sinclair (1919–2007)
  13. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rivett-rohan-deakin-11533
  14. Butcher, Steve; Levett, Connie (3 December 2005). "Death-row mates sing for Nguyen at the end". The Age. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  15. "ABC journalist faces 20 years' jail on trafficking charge". Sydney Morning Herald. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Changi Prison Complex.

Coordinates: 1°21′25.47″N 103°58′25.11″E / 1.3570750°N 103.9736417°E / 1.3570750; 103.9736417

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