Pudu jail wall torn down

KUALA LUMPUR: Demolition work on part of the Pudu Jail wall finally began Monday night when an excavator started tearing down the ancient structure.

The tearing down of the wall began from inside the prison area at about 10.20pm and onlookers who had gathered started taking photographs to capture the historic moment.

A City Hall worker said the demolition would end on Thursday.

Plastic barriers will be put up along the demolition site while Jalan Pudu would be closed from 10pm until 5am during the four days.

The 4.5m high wall had once set a record for the longest mural in the world (384m). It is being torn down to make way for a road-widening project, including the construction of an underpass.

The prison stopped operating in 1996 when the building could no longer cater to the high volume of up to 6,550 people at a time since 1985 and prisoners were subsequently shifted to the Sungai Buloh Prison, 36km from here.