Pulau Senang
Pulau Senang is an coral island in the Republic of Singapore, located about off the southern coast of Singapore Island. Along with Pulau Pawai to the north-west and Pulau Sudong, further north from Pulau Pawai, it is used as a military training area for live-fire exercises carried out by the Singapore Armed Forces.
Pulau Senang is best known in the history of Singapore as the location of a former experimental offshore penal settlement. It failed after only three years, following an infamous riot against the small unit of prison authorities which broke out in 1963, resulting in the death of four officers, including the prison chief.
Etymology
In Malay, Pulau Senang literally translates as the "Easy Island".Prison riot
In 1960, an experimental offshore penal colony was established on Pulau Senang by the Singapore government. The prisoners, predominantly gangsters, were allowed to move freely about the island, and were engaged in manual labour. It was envisioned that the detainees could be reformed through hard work and be sent home with an ability to seek lawful employment.The prison-settlement started on 18 May 1960, when 50 detainees, sent from Changi Prison, arrived with Irish-born Prisons Superintendent Daniel Dutton, the appointed chief of the penal settlement. Over the next three years, the number of detainees from the mainland rose to 320 and together they transformed the island into an attractive settlement, albeit one for criminals only.
However, a riot broke out three years after the prison was established, resulting in the deaths of four prison officers, including Dutton. 18 men were convicted of murder and hanged. As a result, the penal settlement was shut down in 1964.