Pudu Prison was a well-known historical attraction in the Kuala Lumpur city centre, its large area of 8.8ha in Jalan Hang Tuah, Kuala Lumpur, is a prominent landmark in the nation’s capital city. 114-year-old Pudu Prison standing there had been witness how Kuala Lumpur step into a big city.

 

 

 

Pudu Jail or Pudoh Gaol, The historic Pudu prison was built and designed in 1891 and completed in 1895 by state engineer and director of Public Works Department, Charles Edwin Spooner. At the cost of RM 138 000 ($320 000), the prison was built in six phases using steel, brick and cement, all imported from British colonies India and Britain.

 

 

Its design was copied from the Kandy Prison in Bogambia, Africa for shaped like a butterfly or an X structure (cruciform). It originally had 240 cells on three floors, but more cells were added over the years.It had mass kitchen, bathrooms, administrative office, hospital and training centre are located outside the main X-building structure.

 

 

The prison’s gruesome condemned cell is located at block D where those on death row were prepped before being hanged at the execution room in the same block. Between 1960 and 1993, 180 convicts were hanged there.

Pudu Prison was designed to house 600 inmates initially but with additional cells, its capacity was increased to 2,000.

 

The Pudu Prison main entrance was situated in a two-storied building. The Administrative Offices was on the ground floor and on the top floor, six cells for European and Eurasian prisoners and two small rooms for storage of prison records. The female ward of the prison and the prison kitchen were separate areas on each side of the Administrative Block and leading from the main section of the prison were four three-storied wings. The prison hospital was close by, but separate from the main building.

 

 

During World War II, the Japanese occupation forces incarcerated many English, Australian and New Zealand prisoners in this prison.

 

A prominent feature of the prison is the mural painting on its outer walls done by former inmate Khong Yen Chong in the early 1980s. The wall murals of tropical scenes painted by the prisoners took them over a year to paint using 2000 liters of paint. The murals entitled the inmates to won a place in the Guinness Book of Records, for painting the world’s longest mural along the prison’s walls stretching out to more than 384m long and 4.5 m high.

 

 

In 1981, it saw the execution of legendary robber “Botak Chin”, 

 

In 1985, the prison recorded its highest number of inmates at any one time with 6,550. This forced the prison authorities to arrange sleeping shifts for the prisoners.

 

In 1986 execution of Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, both Australian nationals, for the drug trafficking of heroin was the last serve. The colonial era prison was  officially closed in November 1996. The old Pudu Prison has been identified as one of the major sites for mega development. since then, All the inmates were then moved to the new Sungai Buloh prison built by the UDA.

 

As Kuala Lumpur attraction  in early 2004, it was reopened just for a short time as a museum for public to witness the prison ambience. Those who have visited the Pudu Prison described the cells as totally horrific. Each cell is equipped with a window only the size of a shoebox!
 
Pudu Prison Kuala Lumpur was temporarily re-opened as an Alcatraz-style museum before being shut for good to enable the Urban Development Authority Holdings Bhd, which reportedly bought the 7.65ha site for RMl00 million from the Government, to turn it into a commercial area which is expected to cost RM83 million and will be completed  by September 2011.

 

The land on which the prison structure stands has been earmarked for mixed development with 70% of the land will be used for a commercial hub and 30% for residential development. The old prison mosque will be maintained. The Hang Tuah monorail station will also be integrated with the proposed development site to create easy accessibility for the public.

 

 pudu map