Long Binh Jail - History and Operation

History and Operation

Long Binh Jail was established in 1966 by the US Army as a temporary stockade designed to hold about four hundred prisoners and was located on Long Binh Post approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Saigon. It replaced a stockade that held about 200 prisoners located at Pershing Field, Tan Son Nhut Air Base at Saigon. Prisoners were separated by the seriousness of the charges or conviction against them and housed in tents with wooden floors. There were minimum, medium and maximum security areas for the prisoners as well as a mess hall, work areas and an administrative building. Maximum security prisoners were housed individually in five foot by 7 foot sheet metal and wood boxes or in CONEX containers measuring 6 foot by nine foot. When the stockade opened in 1966 the tents used in the minimum and medium security areas were designed to hold about eight men; however, by August 1968 each contained fourteen men. It was estimated that it would take about 280 officers and men to adequately control the stockade but by August 1968 there were only ninety assigned. Men committing felonies requiring sentences of less than one year were assigned to LBJ for confinement with the sentence considered "bad time" towards their assigned 365 day tour in Vietnam as well as their enlistment contract. LBJ served as a holding facility for more serious crimes requiring confinement in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Others confined at LBJ included those persons awaiting trial as well as those who had served their sentence and were awaiting parole back to their assigned unit. Oftentimes the latter were not wanted at their old unit so the unit did not issue orders for their transfer out of the stockade. The facility was turned over to the Vietnamese government in 1973.