Reeducation camp

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Reeducation camp is the official name given to the prison camps operated by the government of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. In such "reeducation camps," the government imprisoned several hundred thousand former military officers and government workers from the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

The theory underlying such camps is the Maoist theory of reforming anti-revolutionaries into socialist citizens by reeducation through labor. In reality, however, the camps are thinly disguised forced labor camps.

The U.S. government considers reeducation camp inmates to be political prisoners. In 1989, the Reagan administration entered into an agreement with the Vietnamese government, pursuant to which Vietnam would free all former RVN soldiers and officials held in reeducation camps and allow them to emigrate to the United States. Thus began the third large influx of Vietnamese immigrants into the country.

The term is also used (sometimes erroneously) to refer to prison camps operated by the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution, or to the laogai and laojiao camps currently operated by the Chinese government.

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