It was here, in the Khmer Rouge's Security Prison S-21 that some of the regime's worst torture atrocities were carried out. More than 17,000 people passed through these gates between 1975 and 1978, accused of betraying the revolution in some way. Nearly all prisoners brought here were once themselves members of the Khmer Rouge who were turned on during one of the regime's many internal purges. The visiting experience is made ever more visceral by the displayed photographic evidence hanging on the walls of the sparse cells next to empty beds. S-21 was exceedingly well-managed by Comrade Duch (the head of the prison) who made sure that extensive records were kept. As the prison was hastily abandoned when the Vietnamese took Phnom Penh in 1979, the detailed notes and photographs have survived.
Address: Street 113, Phnom Penh