# Johor Bahru Prison

Johor Bahru Prison (Malay: Penjara Johor Bahru), also known as Ayer Molek Prison, was a former prison in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Known to locals as Kota Jail, it was opened in 1883 to incarcerate criminals in the state of Johor, as well as those who had revolted against the British colonial government in Malaya.
On 30 August 2005, the prison's operations were relocated to Simpang Renggam in Central Johor, due to an acute shortage of space. Parts of the prison saw continued usage as a police lockup until 2018. As of 2024, the prison complex is abandoned.

## Location

The prison, located on 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) of prime land in Johor Bahru's central business district, is bounded by three roads: Jalan Ayer Molek, Jalan Gertak Merah, and Jalan Khalid Abdullah.

## The prison complex

The Johor Bahru Prison was designed by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, who had visited prisons in Shanghai and Osaka to study the physical conditions and designs of prisons in those cities. The building contract was awarded to a prominent Chinese building contractor, Wong Ah Fook, on 16 April 1882.
The original built-in area was 400 feet (120 m) square (15,000 m²), with a capacity of 200 inmates. There were then only two accommodation blocks for inmates, two training workshops, a kitchen, a toilet block, a clinic and an administrative office.
With the pressing need to increase the prison's capacity over the years, buildings were added, and existing ones, renovated. The number of accommodation blocks for inmates gradually increased to ten, with a capacity of 1,500 inmates. The number of training workshops had also increased to five. Added too, were additional facilities and amenities, which included a family visiting area, a counselling clinic, a welfare officer's room, and a praying room (surau). The 4.5 acre (18,000 m²) compound, enclosed by a 20 feet (6 m) high wall, remained as it was in 1883. The area surrounding the prison had been fully developed, with staff quarters, occupying 9.4 acres (38,000 m²). Thus, every available space within the compound had to be fully utilised. Buildings were packed so close to each other, that one wonders whether fire regulations had been infringed. Even so, inmates had to be crammed up to seven or eight to a cell, when these were originally designed for three.

## Corporal punishment

Death sentences were not carried out at Johor Bahru Prison. Instead, inmates sentenced to death were sent to Pudu Prison, where they would be executed. Corporal punishment, in the form of whipping with a rotan, was administered at Johor Bahru Prison on Mondays and Thursdays.

## General Yamashita Well

The General Yamashita Well was built at the time the prison was constructed in 1882 as a source of drinking water. According to former prison staff, the well was used as an execution ground by the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita during the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

## Exhibition

After the prison's operations were relocated to Kluang, the former prison complex was opened for an exhibition from 1 September to 15 December 2005. The objective of the exhibition was to raise public awareness of the conditions of life in prison and it included, among other things, a talk by prison staff, a video screening, a demonstration of whipping on a dummy, and an opportunity to tour the prison facilities. The entry fee was 5 ringgit for adults and 2 ringgit for children.