TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Cambodian visitors walk past one of the old school buildings taken over by the Khmer Rouge for the interrogation and torture of prisoners before their dispatch to the Killing Fields to be murdered.

Tuol Sleng (S-21) Prison was created by order of the Khmer Rouge chief, Pol Pot on April 17th, 1975. The former Toul Svay High School classrooms were turned into interrogation rooms and cells 0.8 by 2 metres square.

S-21 was designed for detention, interrogation and torture. Once prisoners’ confessions were received and documented they were sent to the Killing Fields and murdered.  Many did not survive their torture. An estimated 3 million people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime.

The head of the prison, Kang Keck Iev - known as Duch, is at present on trial in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for his major role in the genocide of his people.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Khmer Rouge hammered holes in the wall to create easy access through the ex-school to reach the 0.8 by 2 metre cells where prisoners were shackled.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Every prisoner who entered Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison was photographed and an individual file created, the same practice utilised by the Nazi regime.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA A Cambodian visitor takes a portrait in front of the cells at Tuol Sleng (S-21) Prison.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA View through the bars of a cell where prisoners were brought for interrogation and torture at the Khmer Rouge prison Tuol Sleng (S-21).

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Bed and torture implements in the Khmer Rouge prison of Tuol Sleng (S-21).

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Blackboard in an interrogation room at the Khmer Rouge prison of Tuol Sleng (S-21). The prison, previously a school, was thought of by the Khmer Rouge as a place for re-education.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Under a stairwell at the Khmer Rouge prison of Tuol Sleng (S-21) prisoners clothes, shoes and food dishes remain in a pile. The prison is now a museum. Workers there have used the room as a place to dump their plastic bottles and cans.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Above a stairwell at the Khmer Rouge prison of Tuol Sleng (S-21) foreign visitors have written their emotional reactions on the walls.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA Cambodian guides inform foreign visitors of the history of the Khmer Rouge regime genocide.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA The prison is crumbling. Metal braces stop the ceiling from collapsing. One wonders whether such a building should be kept standing or left to perish.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA The view through the bars of a prison interrogation room show life goes on as normal. Many of the people who live near the prison make their livelihood from the tourists who visit the prison.

TUOL SLENG PRISON, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA A Cambodian man sits in the garden in front of the prison, perhaps thinking of loved ones killed by the Khmer Rouge.

KILLING FIELDS, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA After prisoners were interrogated and tortured at Tuol Sleng (S-21) Prison they were then brought to the Killing Fields and murdered. Dry cracked earth now covers one of the pits where people were killed.