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Con Dao Prison was established on February 1, 1862 by Governor of Cochinchina Bonard. This is a prison system with many solitary confinement areas, tiger cages and a system of camps (including Bagne Camp 1, later renamed Camp 1, Cong Hoa Camp, Camp 2, Phu Hai Camp) covering an area of over 12,000 m2 including 10 large cells (large prison cells), 20 solitary confinement stone cells, 1 special cell, a rice milling cellar and a stone breaking area. |
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For more than 100 years, about 20,000 Vietnamese people from many generations were imprisoned and sacrificed in the "hell on earth" Con Dao, where the whole world was shocked when the truth was revealed. Phu Tuong prison - known as the "hell" of "hell on earth" - was the place that once detained patriotic scholars such as Huynh Thuc Khang, Phan Chu Trinh or famous revolutionaries such as Le Duan, Le Duc Tho, Pham Hung...
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| In the tiger cage in the solitary confinement room of only 14m, there were 5 prisoners in shackles, they had to eat and drink on the spot, sick and ill were not examined. If the prisoners resisted, the prison guards would immediately perform brutal tortures such as spreading lime powder mixed with wastewater; beatings with sticks. |
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| Prisoners in the tiger cages, despite being sick and beaten until their legs were broken, were still left on the brick floor with feces and urine until they were exhausted. Many comrades died here during many days of starvation and illness. |
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Phu Hai Prison Camp, Con Dao, as well as the system of Con Dao prisons, was where the enemy tortured and killed patriots and revolutionaries. But this was also the place that witnessed the heroic struggles of prisoners. In 1932, overcoming all forms of brutal torture, the first communist cell in Con Dao Prison at Phu Hai Camp was established, which later developed into the Con Dao Party Committee. |
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| This is where hundreds of people are held in solitary confinement. Prisoners must eat, sleep and use the toilet in one place with iron shackles on their feet. Sometimes, they are only allowed to empty the toilet bin once every 53 days. This torture method causes many prisoners to die from dysentery, diarrhea and flu. |
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| The rice mill, where the prison guards tortured prisoners who still had some strength with hard labor if they wanted to demand human rights or protest against the regime. Prisoners had to grind rice while being beaten with sticks and rods. If the progress and productivity did not meet the requirements, they would beat the prisoners until they were disabled. |
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| The prison that once held comrade Ton Duc Thang; with this form of torture and hard labor, many prisoners were exhausted and died of illness. |
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| Delegation of officials and reporters of Nghe An Newspaper listened to an introduction to the prison. |
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| Even though it has been more than 40 years since it was exposed to the light, this place still makes many people think of them as terrible medieval prisons. The poem ""It's easy to go to Con Lon but hard to return/ The old leave their bodies, the young return with their bones"has vividly and truthfully reflected the hell on earth, where the remaining evidence still makes people terrified. Coming to this place to witness the remaining ruins of hell on earth, generations of people are more grateful for the value of peace, grateful for the great contributions, the bravery and indomitability, and the blood and bone sacrifice of generations of fathers and brothers to bring independence and freedom to the nation.
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Photo: Duc Anh - Content: Thanh Nga
