A visiting site - American Tiger Cages

Gate of Phu Binh prison

US tiger cage has the first name asCamp VII.Then they called it Phu Binh prison. It includes four areas: AB, CD, EF, GH. Each area has 2 rows, each row has 48 separate rooms. Total area: 25.768m2. This is a typicalUS-style prison, designed by American constructionexperts (main contractor was RMK). It has iron bars above, similar to French tiger cages but have no gallery. The roof is covered by fibrocement and very low so rooms become scorching by day. There hasno pedestal in the cells, the prisoners had to lie on the floor with damp air by day and the smell of the soil rose at night. Prisoners had to urinate into wooden containers. Every time prisoners held the struggle against the guards, they would be fined for dumping these containers in few days or weeks or longer ... The shits and urines of from 8 to 10 prisoners were involvedintheir bodies in solitary rooms of about 5m2. In addition, at noon of the hot days with the heady smell unclean, the guards opened the doors to check and closed strongly to createdeafening noises. These noises spread to 48 rooms in a row, with 8 consecutive rows and 384 times of intense input into the chest and the heads of prisoners. They also used the natural factors to exile the prisoners. Not to need whips, the prisoners died slowly by the American architecture so they were called the American tiger cages.

This was the starting placeof the uprising which liberated Con Dao. After hearing about unconditional surrender of President Duong Van Minh, the puppet soldier in Con Dao fled with worried temper. Prisoners in Camp VII have decided to take action, seize the opportunity to liberate Con Dao at about 1 am on 01st  May1975. Temporary Party Committee was established here. To 8 am on 01st May 1975, political prisoners  werecompletely  the master of Con Dao island that finished "The hell on earth" after 113 years (from 1862 to 1975).

Phu Binh prison was especially recognized as the Nation’s  particularly important relic by Ministry of Culture - Information with decision No.54-VHQD on 29th April 1979. It was also recognized as the nation’s special relic by the Prime Minister with decision No.548/QD-TTg on 10th May 2012.