The escape of nearly 600 inmates at Dong Nai Province Drug Rehabilitation Centre may be because of fears of being convicted at courts, according to Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Dao Ngoc Dung.

 Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Dao Ngoc Dung, talked with the media on the sidelines of an NA meeting on October 24.

The minister made the comments to the media on the sidelines of an NA meeting on Monday morning.

Dung believed that the inmates may have been so scared of being convicted after the initial treatment that they decided to escape.

"According to the current law, drug addicts will be encouraged to be treated at their families, and those homeless will be gathered to drug rehabilitation centres," Dung explained.

"After initial treatment, they will be classified based on their conditions. Some can be released but those heavy addictions will be forced to stay for one to two years at the centre for further treatment. The district level court will decide who can go and who will have to stay."

The staff at the Dong Nai centre may not have given proper explanations and instructions and so made the inmates thought that they would be sentenced, the minister added.

Dung said that there have been several escapes at the centres in Haiphong, Nam Dinh and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces which were all caused by the lack of co-operation between the centres and inmates’ families and improper training and instructions from staff.

Nearly 600 inmates broke out of Dong Nai Province Drug Rehabilitation Centre in the southern Dong Nai Province at midnight on October 23.

The centre was vandalised during the escape

After escaping the centre, hundreds of the inmates walked along Highway 1 in Xuan Loc District.

Some of the inmates broke cars windows and asked for money and clothes from passers-by so that they could escape the area. At 1am, the inmates fled into residential areas to avoid police. Residents in Xuan Loc District and neighbouring communes were warned about the breakout.

By late October 24 afternoon, over 400 people had been returned in police trucks. Police are still looking for the rest.