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Côn Sơn Island (Vietnamese Côn Sơn) is the largest island of the Côn Đảo archipelago, off the coast of southern Vietnam. The island is also known after its Malay name as Poulo Condore, this name being well-known during the times of French Indochina. In 1702, the British East India Company founded a settlement on the island of Poulo Condor off the south coast of southern Vietnam, and in 1705 the garrison and settlement were destroyed. In 1861, the French colonial government established a prison on the island to house political prisoners. In 1954, it was turned over to the South Vietnamese government, who continued to use it for the same purpose. Not far from the prison is Hang Duong Cemetery, where some of the prisoners were buried.

During the Vietnam War, prisoners who had been held at the prison in the 1960s said they were abused and tortured. In July 1970, two U.S. Congressional representatives, Augustus Hawkins and William Anderson, visited the prison. They were accompanied by Tom Harkin (then an aide), translator Don Luce, and USAID Office of Public Safety director Frank Walton.

When the delegation arrived at the prison, they departed from the planned tour, guided by a map drawn by a former detainee. The map led to the door of a building, which was opened from the inside by a guard when he heard the people outside the door talking. Inside they found prisoners were being shackled within cramped “tiger cages”. Prisoners began crying out for water when the delegation walked in. They had sores and bruises, and some were mutilated. Harkin took photos of the scene. The photos were published in Life Magazine on July 17, 1970.

Along with the earlier disclosure of the Mỹ Lai massacre, and the later disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, the revelation of the conditions and purpose of Côn Sơn Island prison led more Americans to believe that supporting the South Vietnamese government was improper, and that they should oppose the war. Pro-war and pro-South critics claimed that the photos were misleading, claiming conditions in the prison were not unusual for political prisons in the region. Some claimed that the photos were “motivated” by Harkin’s anti-war beliefs.

The island was also used by the U.S. Coast Guard as a LORAN station.

The prison on Côn Sơn Island was closed in 1975, when North Vietnam (now unified as Vietnam) toppled the South Vietnamese government, in the wake of the withdrawal by the United States and its allies (South Korea, Australia) from the Vietnam War.

Notable prisoners held at Con Son in the 1930s included Phạm Văn Đồng and Lê Ðức Thọ .

• The Con Dao Archipelago
• The Tiger Cages of Con Son
• THEN THE AMERICANS CAME - Mrs. Truong My Hoa