Võ Thị Sáu was a Vietnamese schoolgirl who fought as a guerrilla against the French occupiers of Vietnam, then part of French Indochina. She was captured, tried, convicted, and executed by the French colonialists in 1952, becoming the first woman to be executed at Côn Sơn Prison. Today she is considered a Vietnamese national martyr and heroine.

Côn Đảo Prison, also Côn Sơn Prison, is a prison on Côn Sơn Island the largest island of the Côn Đảo archipelago in southern Vietnam (today it is in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province. The prison was built in 1861 by the French colonists to jail those considered especially dangerous to the colonial government. Many of the high-ranking leaders of Vietnam were detained here. It is ranked a special historical relic of national importance by the government of Vietnam. The most famous site in this prison are the "tiger cages". The French tiger cages cover an area of 5.475 m2, within which each cell occupies 1.408 m2, solariums occupy 1.873 m2, and other spaces occupy 2.194 m2. The prison includes 120 cells. The prison was closed after the end of the Vietnam War and opened for visitors soon after.