Since most of the conference participants left the city after Sunday’s closing session, I took some time on Monday to learn more about Cambodia’s history. Hotel Nine arranged for a tuk tuk to take me to Tuol Sleng (also known as Security Prison 21, or S-21) and the Killing Fields.
Tuol Sleng housed thousands (~17,000) of prisoners during the Khmer Rouge regime, but only seven prisoners are known to have survived. The prison had rules for conduct (pictured below) and multiple forms of punishment for anyone who broke the rules. Different levels of the prison barracks served different purposes, and buildings had a mix of large rooms for multiple prisoners and small, isolated cells.
Since the Khmer Rouge kept careful records of who passed through the prison, several of the larger rooms now have photo displays of the prisoners.
