Hoa+Lo+Prison

The Hoa Lo Prison

The Hoa Lo Prison was the biggest North Vietnamese prison for prisoners of war. A lot of the POWs were pilots shot down during bombing campaigns over North Vietnam like Operation Rolling Thunder. Conditions and treatment of POWs were horrible to say the least. The prison was nicknamed "The Hanoi Hilton" by POWs. The “Hanoi Hilton” cumulatively housed over 700 POWs between 1964 and 1973. Senator John McCain was one of the 700 prisoners of war to stay in the Hoa Lo Prison.

The North Vietnamese referred to the prisoners as political internees rather than POWs which meant they weren’t covered by the Geneva Conventions. This allowed the prisoners to be treated horribly and have even worse conditions in the prison. They were punished for anything and everything that was considered to be against the rules.

The way the North Vietnamese ran the prison, viewing the prisoners as political internees instead of POWs, was clever but not needed. It was a Prison for POWs and they didn't need to be tortured unless they were being interrogated. Other than that the Hoa Lo Prison was just a big POW camp.



Citations

Swogger, Michael. __Mr. Swogger's History Page__ . 2010. School World, Web. 11/22/10.

Kutler, Stanley I. "Hanoi Hilton" //Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War// . New York, New York: Charles Scribner, 1996. Print.