Pubdate: Fri, 28 Dec 2001
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2001, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

SECOND LARGE GROUP OF ADDICTS ESCAPES FROM VIETNAMESE DRUG REHABILITATION 
CENTER IN LESS THAN A MONTH

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnamese police are searching for 37 drug addicts 
still at large from a group of 142 who escaped from a drug rehabilitation 
center in southern Vietnam, in the second massive breakout from the same 
center in less than a month, an official said Friday.

The inmates climbed the center's two-meter (6.5 foot) wall while 12 guards 
were busy distributing meals to other inmates, said the official of the 
center in Can Tho province, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Ho Chi Minh 
City.

Police, guards and villagers captured 98 of the addicts later in the day, 
and families and local governments handed over seven more three days later, 
the official said.

News of the Dec. 9 escape did not appear in Vietnam's state-controlled 
press until Friday.

It was the second massive breakout in less than a month from the center, 
which held 312 inmates, including 70 women and 77 people infected with HIV, 
the virus that causes AIDS, the official said.

All of the escaped addicts were male.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the center has hung 
more barbed wire along the top of its walls to make sure there are no more 
escapes.

On Nov. 16, 188 inmates used an iron bed to break open the center's gate. 
Authorities recaptured 161 of that group and 27 remain at large, the 
official said.

The November breakout was triggered by an inmate's claim that he was beaten 
by a guard. Six of the inmates accused of instigating the November breakout 
are also suspected of leading the second breakout, he said.

Five inmates have been charged with attacking people in the two breakouts, 
and police are investigating the involvement of five others, the official said.

The World Security newspaper, published by the Ministry of Public Security, 
reported Friday that violence and breakouts at Vietnam's tough 
rehabilitation centers are increasing.

"Repeated breakouts by inmates from rehabilitation centers, attacks on the 
centers' officials and the deaths of inmates are a pressing problem which 
raises a warning for the management of the drug rehabilitation centers," 
the newspaper said.

In July, an inmate drowned when he tried to escape by swimming from a 
rehabilitation center on an island on Thac Ba lake in the northern province 
of Yen Bai, it said.

Earlier this month, three inmates were injured in a brawl and 12 escaped 
from a center in Ha Tay province near Hanoi, it said.

The newspaper said 17 inmates broke out from another center in the central 
resort city of Nha Trang.

Vietnam plans to send all of its known 130,000 drug addicts through 
mandatory rehabilitation programs over the next five years despite their 
high failure rate. Officials say 97 percent of treated addicts return to 
drugs within five years.

The country has more than 50 drug rehabilitation centers.
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