Reverend Henry Khoo

Rev Khoo gave spiritual comfort to hardened prisoners for 38 years with his gentle ways

THEY were 'dead men walking', death-row inmates taking that journey towards the day they would hang.

As prison chaplain at Changi Prison, Reverend Henry Khoo's job was to give them spiritual comfort, help them come to terms with the state's penalty for their crimes and help heal the hurt relationships with friends and kin.

Often, he was the one amazed and humbled by how transformed these men were in their final days.

The 76-year-old retired chaplain, who himself amazed and humbled inmates and all those he met with his gentle, caring ways, died on Tuesday night at the Singapore General Hospital after a long battle with cancer.

(From "Prison chaplain dies", Straits Times Digital)