Long Bình Jail Long Binh Jail ( also called LBJ or the " LBJ Ranch " or Long Binh Stockade ) was a U . S . military stockade located at Long Bình , in the province of Dong Nai , South Vietnam during the Vietnam War . It was generally referred to as " Long Binh Jail " , presumably favored over its formal name Long Binh Stockade for the sake of abbreviating it " LBJ " and thereby referring to then - president Lyndon B . Johnson . History and operation . Long Binh Jail was established in 1966 by the US Army as a temporary stockade designed to hold about four hundred prisoners and was located on Long Binh Post approximately 20 kilometers northeast of Saigon . It replaced a stockade that held about 200 prisoners located at Pershing Field , Tan Son Nhut Air Base at Saigon . Prisoners were separated by the seriousness of the charges or conviction against them and housed in tents with wooden floors . There were minimum , medium and maximum security areas for the prisoners as well as a mess hall , work areas and an administrative building . Maximum security prisoners were housed individually in five foot by 7 foot sheet metal and wood boxes or in CONEX container s measuring 6 foot by nine foot . When the stockade opened in 1966 the tents used in the minimum and medium security areas were designed to hold about eight men ; however , by August 1968 each contained fourteen men . It was estimated that it would take about 280 officers and men to adequately control the stockade but by August 1968 there were only ninety assigned . Men committing felonies requiring sentences of less than one year were assigned to LBJ for confinement with the sentence considered " bad time " towards their assigned 365 day tour in Vietnam as well as their enlistment contract . LBJ served as a holding facility for more serious crimes requiring confinement in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . Others confined at LBJ included those persons awaiting trial as well as those who had served their sentence and were awaiting parole back to their assigned unit . Often the latter were not wanted at their old unit so the unit did not issue orders for their transfer out of the stockade . The facility was turned over to the Vietnamese government in 1973 . 1968 Riot . On the night of August 29 , 1968 , a group of black inmates approached the administration building at 11 : 45 p . m . and attacked the guards . From there , chaos erupted and other inmates joined the riot . These inmates began to set buildings on fire , burning the mess hall , barber shop , latrine , administration and finance buildings . About 200 inmates were involved in destroying the camp . The rioters beat white inmates and attacked guards . Despite the violence , only four inmates escaped the facility and one fatality was reported . The next day the 720th Military Police force responded . The force surrounded the camp and set up a perimeter at the gate . The riot finally ended on September 7 , leaving 52 inmates and 63 MPs injured . The prisoners were moved to an area outside of LBJ which was surrounded by barbed wire . The members of the 720th MP Bn communication shops were sent in to rewire the prison . The riot led to the death of Private Edward Haskett of St . Petersburg , Florida , who was beaten to death with a shovel .