Fate of 700 Prisoners in Flooded Central Vietnam Remains Unclear

Swine farm in Prison No. 5 under water last week. No photos from inmate facilities were available.

By Defend the Defenders, October 19, 2017

The situations of around 700 prisoners held in Prison No. 5 in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province remain unclear when the Vietnamese province was seriously affected by flooding with many localities were submerged last week.

The prison, managed by the Ministry of Public Security, partly was under water of around two meters when the region suffered torrential rain on October 9-13 and discharge of water from hydropower dams, including the giant Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant.

State media reported that 4,000 pigs of a swine farm of the prison died from drowning, however, the media provided no details about the situations of the prisoners held by the two inmate facilities coded K2 and K5. The farm and the two facilities holding the prisoners are on the same elevation above sea level.

Media said the prisoners from the two facilities had been transferred to safe places isolated by water and prisoners had been provided with food and clean water from its staff who came to the place by boats. No more details were added.

At a press conference on October 18, Prison Warden Senior Lieutenant Le Van Cuu rejected a rumor, which said 300 prisoners died from drowning during the calamity. The rumor was circulated on Facebook and other social networks last week.

Many prisoners of conscience have been held in the prison, which imposes strict regulations and treats prisoners inhumanely, especially political ones.

Former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hai, known by his pen name Dieu Cay, said most of Vietnamese prison facilities were built with a floor and an antresola and maybe inmates in the two facilities in Prison No. 5 were transferred to the antresolas of the facilities.

However, there are big numbers of prisoner being held in each floor so they cannot stay in antresola for days, Hai said. When imprisoned in Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province, he was held in a facility of 13 meters in length and six meters in width which holds between 95 and 113 inmates. Hai also doubted that the construction of the facility may withstand for hours under attack of strong flood.

The antresola is much smaller than the floor and has no hygienic facilities, he said.

Other former prisoners who were held in Prison No. 5 agreed with Hai who was allowed to stay in the U.S. for medical treatment.

Over a hundred of people died and went missing in the northern Vietnam due to torrential rains last week which forced hydropower dams, including the giant in Hoa Binh province, to discharge water. Any individuals were blamed for the disaster was result of massive deforestation for building hydropower plants as well as water release from the dams, according to experts and environmentalists.