Department of Justice (So Co)

Sunday - 05/06/2022 00:21

Along with the construction of prisons and guard stations, the French colonialists also built offices and other facilities such as the Department of Steel Wire, Department of Treasury, Department of Justice, etc. These are the administrative apparatus supporting the prison system. So Co went into operation in the early years of the twentieth century. In the U.S. period, this house was the headquarters of the Army Republic Vietnam Military Police. So Co campus has a total area of 1,516.2m2, including a main house, a dependent house, 2 cells and a garden.

So Co is also one of the French-style architectures located in the prison town area built at the end of the 19th century to serve the repressive apparatus. In particular, So Co is the place that saved the last moments of the life of the heroine Vo Thi Sau. Although she was in a position where life and death are equally likely, she still maintained the vigor of an optimistic Communist who always believed in the victory of the revolution.

At dawn on January 22, 1952, the ship carrying the first and only female political prisoner Vo Thi Sau landed in Con Dao Bay, then a sloop brought her ashore. The Lord of Island named Jarty ordered Vo Thi Sau to be kept in a private cell in So Co, and assigned the guarding job to the owner of So Co.
Hearing that the French colonialists took Vo Thi Sau to Con Dao for execution, the Island’s Party Committee and the Federation immediately asked some prisoners working as waiters at So Co and the director's office to secretly contact and encourage her to stay strong and keep her spirit before the execution.
That afternoon, the prisoner working as a waiter at So Co brought food to the cell and conveyed the greetings of the Island’s Party Committee to Vo Thi Sau. She emotionally replied: "You can rest assured, because I know how to choose the path of life and fight for national independence, I also know how to choose a worthy death. I salute you all…”

According to a prisoner working as a waiter at So Co: That night, she stayed up and sang all night. She sang heroic songs of the revolution such as: Len Dang, cùng nhau đi hồng binh, tiến quân ca, tiểu đoàn 307…
At four o'clock in the morning on January 23, 1952, the owner of the Department of Stork called Vol Peter escorted Ms. Vo Thi Sau to the office of the superintendent Passi to follow the procedures and then took her to the ground for executing at 7 a.m. on January 23, 1952.
Her indomitable spirit has become the pride of the nation's youth whenever her name is mentioned. Tourists visiting Con Dao Prison Relic always want to visit So Co relic, where they kept the heroine and martyr Vo Thi Sau, the first and only female political prisoner in the French colonial period before taking her to the execution ground in Con Dao.

Source: Department of Culture and Sport of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provice