The Coconut Tree Prison

 

 

History and location

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The coconut tree prison which is also known as “Phu Quoc Prison” is located in An Thoi Village, Phu Quoc. The name “coconut tree” originated from the Indochina War; when French colony was dominating Vietnam and the resistant war against French becomes very strong. At this time, the prison had four areas named “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”; which was believed to keep over 14,000 prisoners. However, when the Indochina War finished, most of the prisoners returned to their families according to the Geneva Accords.

As the Vietnam War started, the U.S troops rebuilt the place into a new prison but kept the same name. The new prison had separate areas for men, women and the elder. As time passed by, until 1966, a new part of the prison was built to imprison more Vietnamese soldiers. The new part of the prison had 12 main areas. Each area was divided into four different sub-areas “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”. The protection security was very strict with tight supervision all the time.

Nowadays, “The coconut tree prison” has become a place for tourists to visit since 1996. In the same year, it was recognized as a “national historical heritage”.

 

 

Significances

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The Coconut Tree prison is the living evidence for the war crime. There are plenty of exhibits presented in the prison for visitors to learn more about the war. There are still some torture tools that was used in the past on prisoners. For example, you can witness the “Catso Tiger cage” which was used to capture the prisoners inside. Since it was closed all the time, the cage was completely dark and it is extremely hot in the morning while completely cold at night. The prisoners after being released from the Tiger cage would be blind. His/her physical and mental health conditions were strongly affected. Besides, there are more torturing activities which reflects the cruel inhuman activities of the enemies in the past like crucifixion, boiling people till death or directly breaking one’s teeth with hammer waiting for you to witness.

 

Here are some pictures of Phu Quoc prison:

” Wire tiger cage”, one of the most  savage  inventions of  Vietnamese puppet to torture revolutionaries in Phu Quoc

” Catso Tiger cage”, an torture tool used to repress prisoners. The cage is made of iron that looks like a container. It was closed all the time, the cage was completely dark and extremely hot in the morning while completely cold at night.

Breaking prisoners’ teeth with hammer

 Boiling prisoners in a lotus-shaped iron pot

Burying prisoners alive

The two men successfully escaped doing this and one year later another two also managed to escape in this fashion. Documents state that there were 42 jailbreaks from the prisons with more than 200 inmates escaping to freedom

 Wire fence surrounded the prison