Hai Phong City: "There are many people who incite drug rehabilitation students"

Some students at Gia Minh Center for Labor Education and Community Integration (Thuy Nguyen, Hai Phong) were identified as having controlled and threatened other students, inciting thoughts of escape.

Hundreds of students flocked to the center of Hai Phong city.

After ensuring that the drug rehabilitation students returned home safely and without any unfortunate incidents, on the evening of September 14, the Hai Phong City People's Committee held a quick press conference.

Responding to the cause of the incident, Mr. Pham Huu Thu, spokesman for the Hai Phong City People's Committee, said that recently, some students at the center have continuously incited and enticed students who are in the post-rehabilitation category to act in opposition, refusing to work, not participating in the Center's activities, and controlling and threatening other students who do not comply with the staff's instructions, inciting thoughts of escape.

In the past, there have been a number of fights at the center. Particularly on August 26, two groups of students fought. One group was hard-working, the other group was lazy, so they provoked each other. On the evening of April 13, another fight broke out between some students of Team 6. And on the morning of September 14, three students involved in the incident jumped into the river and swam to the mountainous area of ​​Minh Tan commune to escape.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Toan, Director of Gia Minh Center, added that the center currently has more than 600 drug rehabilitation students, of which 70% have criminal records, 40% are HIV-infected. Of the more than 300 students who have escaped, most are post-rehabilitation students. They are people who have poor efforts, have criminal records, and are at high risk of relapse and recidivism... According to Decree 94 of the Government, which has been applied since 2013, students are required to undergo rehabilitation for 4 years instead of 2 years as before. That is the reason why many students are upset.

"In accordance with the city's directive, the center follows an open and student-friendly model, so when students leave, the leadership uses loudspeakers to ask students to strictly obey the law when going out and not to let bad situations happen," said Mr. Toan.

Refuting the information that drug rehabilitation students have to work in harsh conditions, Mr. Toan said that recently the center has tried to connect with some outside businesses to create jobs for post-rehabilitation students; students are signed labor contracts and receive wages. And all are done openly and transparently.

Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Le Khac Nam, Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee, said that the students were not criminals. They were only people who entered the drug rehabilitation center under compulsory and voluntary measures, so when the above incident occurred, the city directed the city police, police of wards and communes to control, mobilize, and persuade their families to bring their children back to the center to continue drug rehabilitation. At the same time, the city leaders also asked the police to clarify the extremist subjects; requested the Gia Minh Center's leadership to self-examine and clarify the existing problems to report to the City People's Committee for consideration and correction.

According to VnExpress