Chi Hoa - Prison Operation

Prison Operation

The prison has been infamous for its harsh and squalid conditions for a very long time, regardless of its operators. In the time of the French colonial government, the prisoners were confined in the light-lacking cells and were usually fettered.

In the time of South Vietnam, the prison usually held from 6,000 to 8,000 prisoners or even 10,000 prisoners. These prisoners was divided into two groups by their convicted crimes: the first group were prisoners who were convicted of politically related crimes and the second group were prisoners who were convicted of other crimes. The males and females were confined in different cells and the prisoners could only leave their cells briefly to satisfy their needs for food and hygiene. There was always one battalion of police guarding the prison. In spite of being only a prison, there were two executions were carried out in Chi Hoa prisons: the execution of Ngo Dinh Can and the execution of Nguyen Van Troi.

After the fall of Saigon, the prison was kept running by the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam government but there is only little information in regards to the way it was being operated. There is some brief information in the controversial book The Black Book of Communism which describes the conditions of the prison as extremely bad.

The prison is also infamous for its high security. It is considered to be a prison from which the prisoners can never break out of. However, there have been two successful prison breaks in the past: the first one occurred in 1945 when the Viet Minh took the advantage of the defeat of Japan in World War II to attack and free its members who were jailed in an incomplete and ill-guarded Chi Hoa prison. And the second one was the prison break of the infamous Vietnamese robber Phuoc Tam Ngon (Phuoc the eight-finger) in 1995 when he managed to break his fetters and evade the security forces in a prison break which Vietnamese police described as "an unbelievable prison break".