Changi Prison

Changi, Singapore, 1941

Newly liberated Allied prisoners in makeshift quarters in a central corridor and from crowded cells in Changi Prison in 1945.

Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside the barracks of Sepoy Lines, and was known as the Singapore Prison.[2] By the 1930s, the Singapore Prison was overcrowded and deemed dangerous.[3][4] 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.[5] 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,[6] recommended providing additional accommodation.[3] This would enable the authorities to segregate long-term prisoners, likely to be of special danger to the community, from short-term prisoners while relieving congestion in the existing facility.[5] Deliberations in the Legislative Council saw opposition to the subsequent plans for constructing a new prison at Changi due to uncertainties in the numbers planned for the accommodation (ranging between 650 and 2,500), costs (moving from 2 million Straits dollars to 10 million Straits dollars and back), the area to be used (250 acres to 1,500 acres), and the possibility of the new prison grounds turning into a white elephant.[7][8]

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,[9] 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.[10][11] Chop Woh Hup had 20 months to complete the construction of the prison blocks.[11] The new prison would be 11.5 miles away from the Singapore settlement along the Changi Road and provided accommodation for 568 prisoners.[12] Completed in 1936,[13] 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:[12]

1. An Administration Block and General Store
2. One European Block of Cells and Workshops
3. Two Asiatic Blocks of Cells and Workshops
4. Kitchen and Laundry Blocks
5. Hospital Block
6. Recalcitrant and Punishment Blocks

Within the prison walls, there was an inner wall, 14 feet high, exercise yards, and sufficient vacant land to double the accommodation in the future.[13] Outside the wall, 88 acres of land was set aside for gardening activities by the prisoners.[13] Additional quarters were provided for prison staff adjacent to the prison:[12]

1. Superintendent's Quarters
2. Chief Gaoler's Quarters
3. Assistant Medical Officer's Quarters
4. Two Deputy Gaolers and 26 European Warders' Quarters
5. Asiatic Chief Warder's Quarters
6. Nine Blocks of 12 quarters for Asiatic Warders and Attendants
7. Ten Quarters for Clerks and Dressers.

Along with additional contracts for water supply and sewage disposal, the total estimated costs of the new establishment came out at 2,050,000 Straits dollars.[12] A subsidiary settlement was developed to support an enterprise of small Chinese traders who would provide necessities to the staff and the prison.[14]

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.[15]

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 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).[16] 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 9 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.[17] About 850 POWs died during their internment in Changi during the Japanese occupation of Singapore,[18] a relatively low rate compared to the overall death rate of 27% for POWs in Japanese camps.[19] 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 prisoners of war piling out of the main gate of the Changi Prison after the British liberation of Singapore in September 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. The prisoners of war also established an education program nicknamed the Changi University.[20]

After the war, the prison was used by the returning British 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 October 1945, all 260 German seamen of former U-Boats based in Southeast Asia (in joint operations with the Imperial Japanese Navy during the war) were moved from Pasir Panjang to the prison. On 26 June 1946, all German soldiers and a few civilians were notified they would be shipped back to England on a passenger liner, the Empress of Australia, before their eventual return to Germany.[21]^:245–252

The prison also contained the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police. The Kempeitai tortured and (rarely) executed prisoners there, who they suspected were spies, such as during the Double Tenth incident. [22] Most were civilians, although a small number were Allied POWs. [23]

Original Changi chapel, relocated to Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory

The original open air chapel, built by the POWs in 1944, was later relocated to Duntroon, Canberra. [24]

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 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away, officially reopening on 15 February 2001. On 1 April 2018, the museum was closed and is scheduled to reopen in 2020. [25]

In 1994, Changi Women's Prison and Drug Rehabilitation Centre was opened. [26]

Replica Chapel in Singapore

Towards the end of 2003, Australian authorities lobbied the Singapore government to preserve the old Changi Prison after knowing that the old Changi Prison would be demolished by April 2004 to redevelop the land for Cluster B,[38][39] on the basis of its historical significance where 15,000 Australians were imprisoned after Singapore fell to imperial Japan in 1942.[40] On 8 March 2004, a decision was arrived to preserve the old prison's iconic front walls, front gates and two guard-towers at either end of the wall, which was welcomed by Australian's Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer .[41][42] In 2016, the historical remnants of the old prison – the entrance gate, wall and turrets – was gazetted as the 72nd National Monument of Singapore.[43][44] The entrance gate was moved from the adjacent boundary wall and fitted into the retained wall.[45] The remnants are hidden by a tall fence and barely visible from the road.[45] In 2016, SPS would consider redeveloping the area in front of the remnants to make them more visible to the public.[45]

• Sir Norman Alexander Professor of Physics, Raffles College, Singapore, Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria. Helped build a salt evaporation plant at Changi and a small industrial plant that fermented surgical spirit and other products for prison hospital.
• Sir Harold Atcherley, businessman, public figure and arts administrator.
• Geoffrey Bingham, AM, MM, (6 January 1919 – 3 June 2009), who returned to Australia and wrote several books reflecting on his experiences, including his conversion to Christian faith in The Story of the Rice Cakes,[48] Angel Wings,[49] and Tall Grow the Tallow Woods.[50]
• Freddy Bloom, journalist and campaigner for deaf children[51]
• Russell Braddon, (25 January 1921 – 20 March 1995), Australian writer, who wrote "The Naked Island" about his POW experience.
• Sheila Bruhn[52] (née Allan), who wrote about her experiences in Diary of a Girl in Changi.
• Sir John Carrick (Australian politician), AC, KCMG (4 September 1918 – 18 May 2018). The impact of his experiences on his political thinking is described in his biography, "Carrick: Principles, Politics, and Policy," written by Graeme Starr.
• Anthony Chenevix-Trench (10 May 1919 – 21 June 1979), Headmaster of Eton College, 1964–1970.
• James Clavell is one of the most famous survivors; he wrote about his experiences in the book King Rat.
• Eugene Ernest Colman, chess master.
• John Coast British, (30 October 1916 – 1989), writer and music promoter. He wrote one of the earliest and well-known POW memoirs of Changi The Railroad of Death, (1946). Coast admitted that he and his fellow officers regularly stole coconuts during the night to alleviate their hunger. Other works of Coast include Dancers of Bali (1953), and Dancing Out of Bali (1954).
• Hugh Edward de Wardener, British, CBE, MBE, (8 October 1915 – 29 September 2013), physician and professor of medicine at Charing Cross Hospital. He was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He operated a Cholera Ward at the prison hospital. He also treated British soldiers who were forced to build the Burma Railway, as fictionalised in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). He was a gifted renal research physician having made many breakthroughs in that area. Although he attained the advanced age of nearly 98, he suffered from peripheral neuropathy, a legacy of Changi, in his last months. He died in the De Wardener Ward, the intensive care renal unit at Hammersmith Hospital, Acton, London, England.[53]
• Noel Duckworth, Chaplain, Churchill College, Cambridge.
• John Cade, Australian psychiatrist who pioneered the use of lithium in bipolar disorder.
• Lieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward "Weary" Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE (12 July 1907 – 2 July 1993) was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership
• Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, medical doctor and Director of the Raffles Museum.
• John Hayter, Anglican priest who later wrote of his experiences in Priest in Prison.[54]
• Percy Herbert, actor. Noted for roles in Bridge on the River Kwai and Mutiny on the Bounty, The Guns of Navarone and Tobruk.( 1920-1992)[55]
• Graham Hough, Professor of English, University of Cambridge, 1966–75.[56]
• Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), British rice and opium merchant, died in Changi Prison[57]
• Sir Percy McElwaine, the Chief Justice of the Straits Settlement.
• Jim Milner AM (1933–1937), Former chairman Washington H. Soul Pattinson and former President NRMA.[58]
• Sir Alexander Oppenheim, mathematician. In 1984, he published "The prisoner's walk: an exercise in number theory", based in part of his experiences at Changi.
• Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, commander of Allied forces in Singapore, following his surrender to the Japanese; he was moved to a camp in China in late 1942.
• Sydney Piddington, postwar Australian mentalist entertainer with wife Leslie, "The Piddingtons" ABC and BBC radio and stage mindreading team, who developed his verbal code in Changi.
• Rohan Deakin Rivett, Australian, writer (16 January 1917 – 5 October 1977) War correspondent and journalist with British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation in Singapore. Formerly a soldier in the Australian Imperial Force. Although the British surrendered the island on 15 February 1942, he was not captured until 8 March, in Java, after harrowing journeys by sea and land. His harrowing experiences are vividly chronicled in Behind Bamboo (1946). The book, 392 pages long, was written in October–November 1945 while its author was recovering from the rigours of captivity; reprinted eight times, it sold more than 100,000 copies.[59]
• Tjalie Robinson, (1911–1974), Dutch Indo-European (Eurasian) author, activist, journalist.
• Ronald Searle, cartoonist.
• Robert Skene, ten goal polo player.
• The Reverend James Donald (Donald) Smith, British 18th Division, author of And All The Trumpets, a history of his time as a POW in Changi Prison and building the Burma Road.
• Colonel Julian Taylor FRCS, surgeon.
• Ernest Tipson, linguist.
• Sir Michael Turner, Chief Manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (1953–1962)
• Arthur Varley, Australian Army officer & diarist
• Leo Vroman, Dutch poet.
• Stanley Warren, artist and art teacher; murals produced during his incarceration remain at the prison.
• Ian Watt (9 March 1917 – 13 December 1999), literary critic, literary historian and professor of English at Stanford University.
• Leonard Wilson, Bishop of Singapore, and later Bishop of Birmingham.
• Sir Michael Woodruff, surgeon and scientist.

• Hiroshi Abe, Japanese war criminal
• Nick Leeson, former derivatives broker convicted of rogue trading in the collapse of Barings Bank
• Janatin and Harun Thohir, executed in 1968 for the MacDonald House bombing
• Adrian Lim, Catherine Tan Mui Choo and Hoe Kah Hong, hanged on 25 November 1988 for the 1981 Toa Payoh ritual murders.
• Sek Kim Wah, hanged on 9 December 1988 for killing three people in the 1983 Andrew Road triple murders. He was also involved in an unrelated double murder near Seletar Road.
• Anthony Ler, hanged on 13 December 2002 for soliciting and hiring a 15-year-old youth to murder his wife Annie Leong.
• Mohammed Ali bin Johari, hanged on 19 December 2008 for murdering his stepdaughter Nonoi in March 2006.
• Kho Jabing, a Malaysian who robbed and murdered 40-year-old Chinese construction worker Cao Ruyin in 2008. He was sentenced to death in 2010, and hanged on 20 May 2016, after a 6-year long legal battle against the death penalty.
• Micheal Anak Garing, one of the main perpetrators of the 2010 Kallang Slashings who was convicted of murder and executed in March 2019 for the fatal and grievous assault of 41-year-old Shanmuganathan Dillidurai (who was the final victim of the case).
• Iskandar bin Rahmat, former police officer and convicted murderer of the 2013 Kovan Double Murders case. He remains on death row as of January 2021.
• Van Tuong Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Australian executed in 2005 for drug trafficking[60]
• Peter Lloyd, an Australian journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation arrested in July 2008 for drug trafficking and possession[61]