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Draft:Queenstown Remand Prison

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Queenstown Remand Prison was a prison on Jalan Penjara off Margaret Drive in Queenstown, Singapore. Opened in 1966, it replaced the Outram Prison, which had been demolished to make way for a housing estate. It was closed in 2009 and demolished a year later.

History

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In August 1964, it was announced that a prison for women and both male and female remand prisoners. It was also to serve as a holding centre as it was situated near the courts. The prison, which was to cost $2 million to construct, was to be able to hold 50 women prisoners and 300 remand prisoners. It was to have seven blocks of jail cells, a 25 foot tall perimeter wall and quarters for prison officials. It was scheduled to be completed in the middle of the following year, replacing the Outram Prison, which had been demolished to make way for urban redevelopment.[1]

The prison was officially opened by then-Minister for Culture and Minister for Social Affairs Othman Wok on 24 September 1966.[2]

Political prisoners https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/search?q=Queenstown%20Prison&df=1967-01-01&dt=1967-12-31&type=article&sort=Relevance&size=20

in December 1978, the prison received books from the Queenstown Branch Library as part of a project to provide reading materials for detainees.[3]

In 1982, toilets were installed in each of the 350 cells as part of a multi-million dollar prison improvement scheme by the Prisons Department of Singapore. Previously, prisoners used communal toilets. The prison was "where new prisoners stay for a few days for classification and allocation to other penal establishments."[4] It was the only remand prison in Singapore.[5] In December 1984, it was announced that there were plans to improve the prison by introducing more dormitories and workshops.[6] In October 1985, it was announced that the prison would undergo a $6.5 million upgrading which would introduce more cells which separated first-time offenders from "hardcore" criminals.[7] The project, which was to begin on 27 January 1986, involved the demolition of the single-storey prison building. It was to be replaced by a three-and-a-half-storey housing administrative functions and operations, with a general store, interview rooms, closed-circuit television systems, automated gates and electronic locks. The fourth storey, which housed a classification and punishment cell block, was to be built on a slope. The project was scheduled to be completed by January 1987, increasing the prison's capacity from 830 to 900.[8]

Drug lords[9]

https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/search?q=Queenstown%20Prison&type=article&df=1985-01-01&dt=1985-12-31&page=1&size=20&sort=Relevance

References

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