Changi Prison

First prison prisoners in makeshift quarters in a central corridor and from crowded cells in Changi Prison in 1945 Prior to Changi Prison, the only penal facility in Singapore was the Singapore Prison at Pearl's Hill, beside the barracks of Sepoy Lines. By the 1930s, the Singapore Prison was overcrowded and deemed dangerous. The Singapore Prison had a capacity of 1,080. In the early 1920s, the average daily number of convicts was 1,043; it reached 1,311 by 1931. Thus the 1931 report presented by the newly appointed Inspector of Prisons for the Straits Settlements, and the Superintendent of Singapore Prisons, Captain Otho Lewis Hancock, recommended providing additional accommodation. Tenders to construct the grounds of the new prison at Changi were put out in 1933. The tender for erection and completion of the quarters was first awarded to Hup Thye and Co for 16,900 Straits dollars on 26 June 1933, and a 2 September 1933 tender for the prison blocks was reportedly awarded to Chop Woh Hup, a local Chinese construction firm, for 1,278,000 Straits dollars on 8 March 1934. Chop Woh Hup had 20 months to complete the construction of the prison blocks. Completed in 1936, within the 24 feet high, 3,000 feet long prison walls that were made of reinforced concrete, and occupying 13 acres of land, there would be: section of the prison. When it was officially operational in June 1937, it was claimed to be one of the best prisons in the British Empire. The design of the prison was based on a T-shaped structure, with two cell-block wings stretching out from a central main block (for administration areas and warden-offices), to allow for quick and easy access to either cell-block wing for the wardens whenever necessary (from up above, the prison buildings formed the shape of the top of a telegram/telephone pole). Changi Prison also boasted the use of an advanced and extensive alarm system and had electrical lighting in its cells along with flush-toilets in each. The prison had a holding capacity of 600. Long-term prisoners would be transferred from the existing Singapore Prison. The death row section of Changi Prison consisted of 24 cells arranged in a horse shoe shaped block around an open air grassy exercise yard. The exercise area itself was enclosed in steel bars and had a wire mesh roof to prevent escape by helicopter. The cells were about three square metres (32 square feet) in size, with bare concrete walls on three sides and the remaining side consisting of vertical steel bars facing out into the block. The building also contained the gallows where judicial hangings were performed, and condemned inmates had a final walk of about 20 meters from their cell to the execution chamber. Conversion into a prisoner of war camp During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military detained approximately 3,000 civilians in Changi Prison, which was built to house only one-fifth of that number. 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). In the UK, Australia, The Netherlands and elsewhere, the name "Changi" became synonymous with the infamous POW camp nearby, since most of the Japanese prisons were in the Changi area. Around 500 detainees were women who had been separated with their children and marched to the cramped prison camp from their homes. These women and also girls sewed quilts for the prison hospital, daringly embroidering their own secret symbols and stories into the squares, including forget-me-nots, butterflies, angels, scenery of trees and sheep, other symbolic flowers and even a domestic sitting room, ships, birds and a map of Scotland, and one of Australia. They risked severe punishments by sewing, depicting their prison environment and adding dozens, or even over 400 names in one case, onto the cloths. One depicted the Changi Stroll, the forced march of the captive women and children over nine miles to the prison under the occupation by the Japanese on 8 March 1942, coincidentally now International Women's Day commemorating women and the defiance of the suffragettes. Surviving examples of the prison handiwork are in the archives of the British Red Cross, Imperial War Museum, London or held at the Australian War Memorial. About 850 POWs died during their internment in Changi during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, a relatively low rate compared to the overall death rate of 27% for POWs in Japanese camps. However, many more prisoners died after being transferred from Changi to various labour camps outside Singapore, including those on the Burma Railway and at Sandakan airfield. 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. The prisoners of war also established an education program nicknamed the Changi University. Kempeitai The prison also contained the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police. The Kempeitai tortured and executed prisoners there, who they suspected were spies, such as during the Double Tenth incident. Most were civilians, although a small number were Allied POWs. Postwar history After the war, Changi Prison was used by the British to hold Japanese prisoners of war, which included former Imperial Japanese Army, Imperial Japanese Navy and Kempeitai personnel, police officers and POW camp guards; British troops were used as ad hoc prison officers. Most of the prisoners of war were eventually repatriated to Japan, but eight former Kempeitai members were found guilty by a military tribunal of torturing 57 internees (which resulted in 15 of them dying) in the "Double tenth" trial on 18 March 1946 at the Supreme Court Building and were sentenced to death. In the inner yard of the prison, three gallows were erected to carry out the sentences, which were performed in April 1946. On 17 October 1945, 260 German prisoners of war (who were former Kriegsmarine personnel and had served on U-boats) were moved from Pasir Panjang to Changi Prison. Almost a year later on 26 June 1946, all German prisoners of war in the prison were notified that they would be repatriated back to Germany via England on a passenger liner, the Empress of Australia. The prison was returned to Singapore Prison Service on 15 October 1947, and long-term prisoners from Outram Prison were transferred back to Changi. Changi Prison played a significant role in Singapore's development after its independence, as many prisoners were put to work in various industries such as farming and construction. In the 1970s and 1980s, Changi Prison underwent major renovations and upgrades to improve its facilities and security. New buildings were constructed, including a maximum-security block for high-risk prisoners. Changi Chapel and Museum The original open-air chapel, built by the POWs in 1944, was later relocated to Duntroon, Canberra. In 1988, Singapore built a replica chapel, next to the Changi Prison. The project included a museum. When Changi Prison was expanded in 2001, the chapel and museum were relocated to a new site away, officially reopening on 15 February 2001. On 1 April 2018, the museum was closed and reopened in 2020. In 1994, Changi Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre was opened. ==Demolition and redevelopment==