diff --git a/libcontainer/state_linux.go b/libcontainer/state_linux.go
index 0deb22d1f94..02ff06ea9cc 100644
--- a/libcontainer/state_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/state_linux.go
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ type containerState interface {
 }
 
 func destroy(c *linuxContainer) error {
-	if !c.config.Namespaces.Contains(configs.NEWPID) {
+	if !c.config.Namespaces.Contains(configs.NEWPID) ||
+		c.config.Namespaces.PathOf(configs.NEWPID) != "" {
 		if err := signalAllProcesses(c.cgroupManager, unix.SIGKILL); err != nil {
 			logrus.Warn(err)
 		}