Toul Sleng (S-21) Prison

S-21 was a high school when Pol Pot turned it into an important secret prison operated in Phnom Penh from mid-1975 through the end of 1978. Those that were brought to S-21 were those inside the Khmer Rouge, and thought to have betrayed the movement. The families of offenders were often brought to the prison as well in order to keep the deaths of their loved one from being avenged. Almost all of the prisoners had worked in the armed forces, factories, or administration. Upon arrival at S-21, the prisoners were photographed, tortured until they confessed to whatever crimes their captors charged them with, and then executed in Choeung Ek or the Killing Fields. The prisoners' photographs and completed confessions formed dossiers that were submitted to Khmer Rouge authorities as proof that the "traitors" had been eliminated. This precise record keeping resembled that of the Nazis and the Jewish Holocaust.
Of the approximately 20,000 people who were imprisoned at S-21, there were only seven known survivors. At least 20 other similar centers operated throughout the country. Today, S-21 prison is now the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, a reminder to the world of Cambodia’s darkest days