British Soldiers Gaoled at Singapore for Robbery Under Arms

Grey River Argus, 21 May 1947, Page 5

British Soldiers Gaoled at Singapore for Robbery Under Arms

Protest Against Prison Conditions (Rec. 8.10; LONDON, May 20. The Colonial Office Under-Secre-tary, Mr Ivor Thomas, admitted in the House of Commons that eightytwo Europeans, including sixty-six members of the United Kingdom armed forces, were recently imprisoned in a 70-year-old Singapore gaol, which, before the war, had normally accommodated twenty people. He was replying to Mrs Braddack, who read extracts from a letter which, she said, had been smuggled out of the gaol. The letter described the prison as a second Belsen. It alleged that the prsioners slept on wooden boards, under bug-infested blankets, and also that the Prison Governor “took a sadistic delight” in beating the prisoners with a rattan, which marked their bodies for months. Mr Thomas said it was an exaggeration to use the term Belsen. The over-crowding in the prison was entirely due to the prevalence of crime in the armed forces. Most of these men had been sentenced for armed robbery with violence. He had no evidence to support an allegation that these prisoners lacked medical facilities and he could not comment on the allegations of whipping, but he would bring the matter to the attention of the Governor of Singapore.