First prison and POW camp
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—predominantly British and Australian—soldiers and since 1943 some Dutch civilians brought over by the Japanese from the islands in the then Dutch East Indies now Indonesia.[1] Although POWs were rarely, if ever, held in the civilian prison, the name Changi became synonymous in the UK, Australia,The Netherlands and elsewhere with the POW camp.
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 campsoutside Singapore, including the Burma Railway and the Sandakan airfield.
Allied POWs, mainly Australians, built a chapel at the prison in 1944 using simple tools and found materials. British airman Stanley Warren 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 briefly used to hold Japanese and other soldiers who were held on suspicion of having committed war crimes. British soldiers were stationed there as prison guards.
many prisoners at Changi during the war as they thought that Kempeitai
The prison also contained the Headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police who tortured many of those prisoners to be spies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changi_Prison Date accessed: 16/2/2013
The changi Prison
The POWs ( Prisoners of War)
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