 North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh had died the previous month, possibly causing a change in policy towards POWs.Also, a badly beaten and weakened POW who had been released that summer disclosed to the world press the conditions to which they were being subjected, and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, which included McCain's brother Joe, heightened awareness of the POWs' plight.In December 1969, McCain was transferred back to the Hỏa Lò, "Hanoi Hilton"; his solitary confinement ended in March 1970.