According to a new regulation from the Ministry of Public Security, death-sentenced prisoners are allowed to receive five relatives at a time, and if the prisoner’s relatives are foreigners, a meeting must be subject to specific procedures. The regulation is included in Circular No. 39/2012/TT-BCA dated 04 July 2012 providing for the management and detention of persons sentenced to death. Also under the circular, which took effect on August 20, 2012, the number of times a death row prisoner is allowed to meet his or her relatives is not to exceed one time per month, and the duration for such a meeting must not be more than an hour. Such relatives include grandparents, parents and foster parents, siblings, spouses, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and adopted children. In a case where death row prisoners’ relatives are foreigners who want to visit the prisoner, they are required to file an application to the prison which is subject to approval from the head of the prison. The application can be made in Vietnamese or English, and when it is in English, it must be attached with a Vietnamese translation that is certified by a Vietnam-based diplomatic representative agency, the consular agency of the country of their nationality, or by a Vietnam-based representative office of an international organization where the foreigners are working. The meeting between the death row prisoners and their relatives must be supervised closely to prevent attempts to escape. The place where the meeting is arranged must be built solidly and be suitable for observation. It must be equipped with equipment necessary for monitoring and there must be a partition between the prisoners and their relatives. During the meeting, the death row prisoner must not receive gifts, money or other items from their relatives. They must not be allowed to eat or drink, smoke, or use other stimulants when meeting their relatives. A death row prisoner will have one of their legs put in fetters in case they attempt to perform acts of opposition, suicide, escape or other dangerous actions, and when it is the case, the fetter will be opened once every day for the prisoner to freshen up for not more than 15 minutes. In the case of a death row prisoner who dies, the prison warden must report the death to his or her relatives and to the relevant investigation agency, the People’s Procuracy and the People’s Court at the provincial level to investigate the cause of the death. The prison’s management must respect prisoners’ rights to lodge a complaint, denunciation, appeal and petition for amnesty in accordance with applicable laws.