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VietNamNet Bridge - At the peak period of the Vietnam War, Phu Quoc Prison totalled 400 hectares with more than 400 detention rooms and more than 32,000 political prisoners. Today, a part of this giant prison has been restored with about 20 detention rooms, located in the town of An Thoi on Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province. Although the current size is only 1/20th of the original, what is displayed here is enough to scare anyone.
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The first impression of the camp is its fence system.
This system consists of dense layers of barbed wire.
Between each layer is a corridor for guards and sniffer dogs to patrol 24/7.
The barbed wire here is razor wire, which is more dangerous than conventional barbed wire.
Around the area are guard towers.
There are several layers of gates in the prison.
Each detention room is 5 meters wide, 20 meters long.
Prisoners lie on the wood planks along the cell.
In addition to the regular detention rooms, there are tiger cages for punishing prisoners. These cages are made of barbed wire, and have just enough space for prisoners to lie or sit.
Warders invented brutal forms of punishment in tiger cages like pouring cold water on prisoners at night, pouring salt water into or lighting fire near tiger cages during hot days. Many people died in the tiger cages.
There are also discipline rooms, made of iron plates like a sealed container.
Locked up in here, prisoners suffered from hunger, lack of light and air, scorching heat during the day, cold air at night. When they left the room, their eyesight was blurry and they suffered from severe depression.
The most terrible act in Phu Quoc Prison was the barbaric torture. They used 45 torturing methods, including chiseling teeth, striking with ray-skin whips, pressing with planks,...
Radiating high pressure lamp into eyes to blast the pupil, using power to torture, putting prisoners in sacks and dropping the sack into boiling water, chiseling the knee...
Nailing prisoner body, clamping prisoner under a plank and using hammer to beat the plank, and burning prisoners with fire were some of the methods.
Burning the lower part of the abdomen, hanging prisoners on the ceiling to beat them, choking the prisoner with soapy water were other methods.
Prisoners fought many different ways to oppose the brutal treatment at the prison.
Many prisoners died.
To escape the "hell on earth", prisoners in Phu Quoc dug tunnels. There were at least four successful exits. There were also dozens of other escape routes. There were two escape routes from the kitchen. |
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