In 1946, the French colonialist returned to occupy Phu Quoc. They chose Phu Quoc to set up the largest prison in Southeast Asia due to the fact that the island had a strategic military position, far from the mainland, they could easily suppress prisoner. The prison is divided into several zones, surrounded by 10 -15 layers of barbed wire fence with the dense electric lighting systems.

With only 100m2, each detention accommodates from 70 to 120 people. In solitary confinement, the area was less than 30 m2 but sometimes reached up to 180 people with extreme heat and cold for a prolonged time leading to a variety of diseases.

The prison includes both the internal and external exhibiting area with a wide range of artifacts still keeping the former position. Visiting the prison, you will have the chance to see many pictures, models depicting the brutal torture of the colonists. There are diverse torture forms such as nailing into hands, foot, head, stabbing skin with a burning wire, perforating teeth, boiling, burying alive to subdue Vietnamese revolutionaries fighting will.

Besides, keeping the prisoner in tiger cages was considered as the worst punishment. This is the iron cage with 1 m high, 2 m long surrounded by barbed wire. In the tiger cage with a narrow space, the prisoners could not lie, stand or sit down. When the weather was hot, the guards placed the coal furnace next to the cage, in cold weather, they pour more water into the container. Sometimes, guard suppressed prisoner by brutal torture such as nailing to the knee even to the head.

However, with resilience and intelligence, the revolutionary soldiers dealt with them many forms of struggle from silence, hunger strike to organized escape.

Phu Quoc Prison has recognized as the national historical relic by the ministry of nature information. Nowadays, Phu Quoc prison is one of the famous attractions for both Vietnamese people and foreigners.