Pudu Prison

Pudu Prison
Penjara Pudu

An overhead view of the Pudu Prison complex, as seen from the Berjaya Times Square
Location	Jalan Hang Tuah Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Status	Demolished
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 Pudu Prison (Malay: Penjara Pudu) 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 Straits $16,000, and had been adorned with the world's longest mural at one point in its history. The cells were small and dark, each equipped with a window only the size of a shoebox. As of December 2012, the prison complex was largely demolished, leaving only the main gate and a portion of the exterior wall still standing.

Pudu Prison, also known as Pudu Jail, was built on the site of a former Chinese burial ground. At the time, Pudu was a dense jungle area, with tigers occasionally roaming around. Construction began in 1891, using convicts as workforce. It took about four years and was finally complete in 1895. The first governor of Pudu Prison was Lt. Col. J.A.B. Ellen.

A few months after its completion, in August 1895, a cholera plague struck the prison and killed a few hundred inmates. Later, it was found that the plague was caused by the prison's water supply system, which relied on an old well belonging to the Chinese cemetery previously on the site. An inspection by the British colonial authorities revealed that the water in the well was severely contaminated by deadly viruses. The water problem was not fixed until 1898.

In 1911, Richard Alfred Ernest Clark, a former soldier of the third battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, was one of the European warders in the history of 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 rotan caning. The canings were administered in a special "caning area", so marked, which was not inside the main building but on the prison grounds.

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.