Pudu Prison

The Pudu Prison (Malay: Penjara Pudu, simplified Chinese: 半山芭监狱; traditional Chinese: 半山芭監獄; pinyin: Bànshānbā Jiānyù), also known as Pudu Jail, was a prison in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Built in phases by the British colonial government between 1891 and 1895, it stood on Jalan Shaw (now Jalan Hang Tuah). The construction began with its 394-metre prison wall at a cost of 16,000 Straits dollars, and had been adorned with the world's longest mural at one point in its history.

Pudu Prison
Penjara Pudu

An overhead view of the Pudu Prison complex, as seen from Berjaya Times Square, in 2004
Location	Jalan Hang Tuah, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Status	Demolished (redeveloped as Bukit Bintang City Centre)
Security class	Medium-security
Opened	1895
Closed	1996 (Malaysian Prison Department) 2008 (Royal Malaysian Police)
Managed by	Malaysian Prison Department (1895 - 1996) Royal Malaysian Police (2003 - 2008)

The prison complex was largely demolished by December 2012 to make way for urban development. At the request of heritage conservationists and the public, the main gate and a portion of the exterior wall have been preserved and now form part of the park surrounding the Bukit Bintang City Centre development and mall, which occupies the site of the former prison.

History

The main gate of Pudu Prison, 2007. The gate has been preserved and forms part of a public park on the grounds of the Bukit Bintang City Centre.

1891: Construction

Pudu Prison, also known as Pudu Jail (Pudu Gaol using 19th century spelling), was built on the site of a former Chinese burial ground. The site was chosen as Pudu, at the time a dense jungle area, with tigers occasionally roaming around, was close to Kuala Lumpur's then central business district (it was about one mile from Sultan Abdul Samad Building) but sufficiently isolated to be a threat. Charles Edwin Spooner, then-head of Selangor's Public Works Department, was the architect and project manager. Total project cost was $138,000.

Construction began in 1891, using convicts as workforce. The cemetery was excavated and 500 remains were transferred. Prisoners were transferred to the incomplete prison in stages throughout construction from 1892 to 1895. While the prison's main block only "half-complete", all inmates from other smaller jails throughout Kuala Lumpur, totalling about 500, were relocated to Pudu Jail in May 1895. The first governor of Pudu Prison was Lt. Col. J.A.B. Ellen.

1895: epidemic

During construction and early operation, from 1893 through 1895, an outbreak of cholera and dysentery struck the prison and killed a number of inmates. The epidemic peaked in August 1895, coinciding with an unusually dry weather, resulting in 126 recorded cases, including 68 fatalities in that month alone.

The epidemic was blamed on the prison's water supply system, which relied on an existing well which was sourced from under the burial ground previously on the site. The well's water source also came under contamination from effluent from a vegetable garden in a nearby village. The cholera epidemic was put under control by the end of August 1895, as fresh water was carried from reservoirs in Ampang.

Outbreaks of beriberi have also plagued the prison during its first decade in operation, as well as a malaria outbreak in 1908.

Early years

In 1911, Richard Alfred Ernest Clark, a former soldier of the third battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, was one of the European warders at Pudu Prison.

Early in its history, Pudu Prison was the only prison in the state of Selangor and used to imprison men and women with short sentences. The prison was also self-sufficient as it had a vegetable garden that could produce enough food for its inmates annually.

The prison later housed criminals including drug offenders and was a location for administering corporal punishment by caning. The canings were administered in a special "caning area", so marked, which was not inside the main building but on the prison grounds.

World War II and later

Overgrown west wall of Pudu Prison in February 2011.

The area of the prison in June 2013, with the entrance gate and a water fountain remaining.

The Bukit Bintang City Centre, built on the grounds of the prison, under construction in May 2020.

The Bukit Bintang City Centre in May 2022.

During the Japanese occupation in World War II, the jail was briefly used as a POW camp after Kuala Lumpur fell in January, to October 1942, when most of the POWs were transferred to Changi Prison, Singapore. Over 1,000 POWs were held there in mid-1942.

In 1986, the Pudu Prison siege took place. In this incident, a group of prisoners led by Jimmy Chua Chap Seng seized and held two members of the prison staff as hostages over a period of six days. The siege was resolved when Malaysian police stormed the prison. They successfully rescued the hostages and subdued the prisoners without loss of life. Chua was hanged for another crime he was detained for in Pudu Prison while the rest were jailed for wrongful confinement and abduction.

As Kuala Lumpur entered the 1990s, concerns were raised about the viability of the prison's location on prime real estate. Security was a major issue due to the prison's proximity to fast-rising commercial developments such as Imbi and Bukit Bintang. Additionally, the prison layout and facilities had become obsolete.

In 1996, after 101 years as a prison, Pudu Prison was formally closed and the inmates were moved to Sungai Buloh Prison and Kajang Prison. It continued to be used until 2009 as a day-holding facility for prisoners attending court hearings. It was used as a museum for a period in 1997. Additionally, eight supporters of the Hindu Rights Action Force were arrested and incarcerated in Pudu Prison following the 2007 HINDRAF rally. They were later released due to lack of evidence.

Demolition

In June 2009, the government finally decided to demolish the complex by developing it in phases. When the MP for Bukit Bintang, Fong Kui Lun (DAP) asked why the building was not being retained as part of Malaysia's heritage, Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussain (UMNO-BN) replied: "In our opinion, it's not something to be proud of." The hanging chamber, along with the prison hospital, were the first structures to be torn down in October that year.

In June 2010, the eastern wall of the Pudu Prison complex was demolished to make way for a road-widening project. By December 2012, all buildings within the Pudu Prison complex were completely demolished. The government agreed to maintain a part of the exterior wall and landmark main gate after being petitioned by conservationists and the general public. These remaining features have been incorporated into the fountain park forming part of Mitsui Lalaport Mall, which now occupies the site of the prison.

The site was redeveloped by the BBCC Development Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between EcoWorld, UDA and EPF Board, into the Bukit Bintang City Centre. In 2022, Bukit Bintang City Centre was opened.

Mural

In 1984, an inmate named Khong Yen Chong used some 2,000 litres of paint to create an impressive mural of tropical scenes. It measured some 860 feet by 14 feet and was mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest mural in the world. Khong, as an inmate, was not able to complete the mural. He returned later as a free man and volunteered his time to complete his masterpiece

Famous inmates

Botak Chin, an infamous gangster who was allegedly betrayed by his own men, was executed here on 11 June 1981 for the possession of firearms. In the 1980s Leonard Glenn Francis "Fat Leonard" spent time interned there.

In 1986 Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, both Australian nationals, were executed in Pudu Prison for trafficking heroin. In 1989, Derrick Gregory, a British national was also hanged for heroin trafficking.

Jimmy Chua Chap Seng, the ringleader of the 1986 Pudu Prison siege, was found guilty of illegal possession of firearms and bullets under the Internal Security Act 1960 and hanged on 10 October 1989 after losing his appeal against the death sentence.

Convicted killer Lee Chee Wai was hanged on 18 January 1984 for the 1981 murder of Laura Yap Fui Kheng.

Artifacts

Pudu Prison's front gate, preserved as a memorial, August 2023

Some artifacts from the prison, including the fountain and the gable inscribed with the year "1895", were preserved and exhibited at the Malaysia Prison Museum in Bandar Hilir, Malacca; the museum itself being a former colonial prison opened in 1860.

External links

Media related to Pudu Prison at Wikimedia Commons

• Illustrations from the 1997/98 Pudu Prison exhibition at the World Corporal Punishment Research website.
• "Pudu Jail museum is a family crowd-puller", New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, 23 December 1997.
• Trips in Kuala Lumpur
• Pudu Prison Demolition, 13 October 2009