Manikins Of Vietnamese Prisoner In Solitary Confinement In Hoa Lo Prison Editorial Photo

Pictured is a manikin of a Vietnamese prisoner in Hoa Lo Prison. Hỏa Lò Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in French Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. The prison was built in Hanoi by the French in the late 1800s when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale which is still the designation of prisons for dangerous or long sentence detainees in France. Hoa Lo was commonly translated as `fiery furnace` or even `Hell`s hole`, as the Vietnamese prisoners were kept in subhuman conditions and often tortured or executed.