Devil's Island
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- For other uses, see Devils Island.
Devil's Island (French: Île du Diable) is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 11 kilometers off the coast of French Guiana. It has an area of 14 ha (34.6 acres). It was a small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952.
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[edit] Use as penal colony
The rocky, palm-covered island rises 40 meters (131 ft) above sea level. The penitentiary was first opened by Emperor Napoleon III's government in 1852, and became one of the most infamous prisons in history. In addition to the prisons on all three islands, prison facilities were located on the mainland at Kourou. Over time, they became known collectively as "Devil's Island" in the English-speaking world, while they are known in France as the bagne de Cayenne, Cayenne being the main city of French Guiana.
While the colony was in use (1852-1946), the inmates were everything from political prisoners (such as anarchist Clément Duval) to the most hardened of thieves and murderers. A great many of the more than 80,000 prisoners sent to the harsh conditions at disease-infested Devil's Island were never seen again. Other than by boat, the only way out was through a dense jungle; accordingly, very few convicts ever managed to escape.
A May 30, 1854, law provided that convicts would be forced to stay in French Guiana following their release for a time equal to their forced labor time, or, for sentences exceeding eight years, for the remainder of their life. They were to be provided with land to settle on. In time, a variety of penal regimes emerged, convicts being divided into categories according to the severity of their crimes and their imprisonment or forced residence regime. In 1885, a law accelerated the process, since repeat offenders for minor crimes could also be sent. A limited number of convicted women were also sent to French Guiana, with the intent that they marry the freed male inmates; however, the results were poor and the government discontinued the practice in 1907.[1]
The horrors of the penal settlement became notorious in 1895 with the publicity surrounding the plight of the Jewish French army captain Alfred Dreyfus who had been wrongfully convicted of treason and was sent there on January 5.
[edit] Attempted escapes
[edit] Clément Duval
Clément Duval, an anarchist, was sent to Devil's Island in 1886. He was sentenced to death but until then he performed hard labor on Devil's Island. He contracted smallpox while on the island. He escaped in April 1901 and fled to New York City, where he remained the rest of his life. He eventually wrote a book on his time of imprisonment called Revolte.
[edit] Henri Charrière
He escaped from Devil's Island along with his companion Sylvain. Charrière's novel Papillon describes this successful escape, as well as his other attempts from other prisons in French Guiana and nearby countries.
[edit] Sylvain
He escaped with Henri Charrière from Devil's Island on a bag of coconuts as a raft. He and Charrière made it to the mainland but Sylvain died in quicksand a short distance from the coast.
[edit] René Belbenoit
A veteran of the First World War, Belbenoit stole some pearls and was tried and sentenced to 8 years in 1920. He was sent to Devil's Island. Belbenoit attempted to escape on a log canoe up the Maroni River. He was recaptured and sent to solitary confinement. He attempted to escape once again but was recaptured and sent to serve more years of solitary confinement. In 1938 he wrote the book Dry Guillotine, a memoir about his time in prison, and in 1952 Hell on Trial. He was released in 1934 after serving 14 years but was not allowed to return to France. In prison he lost all of his teeth.
[edit] Aftermath
In 1938 the French government stopped sending prisoners to Devil's Island, and in 1952 the prison closed forever. Most of the prisoners returned to metropolitan France, although some chose to remain in French Guiana.
In 1965, the French government transferred the responsibility of most of the islands to the newly founded Guiana Space Centre. The islands are under the trajectory of the space rockets launched eastwards, seawards from the Centre (to geostationary orbit); they must be evacuated during each launch. The islands host a variety of measurement apparatus for space launches.[2]
The CNES space agency, in association with other agencies, has since had the historical monuments restored. Tourism facilities were added; the islands now welcome more than 50,000 tourists each year.[3]
[edit] Cultural references
Several movies, songs, a stage play, and a number of books feature Devil's Island. The most famous was a 1970 best-selling book written by an ex-Devil's Island convict named Henri Charrière and published under the title Papillon. The book told of his numerous alleged escape attempts, and in 1973 it was made into a movie starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
Humphrey Bogart and Joan Bennett starred in the 1955 film We're No Angels, which is set on Devil's Island.
Before the bestseller Papillon, Rene Belbenoit's book, titled Dry Guillotine and published in 1938, was instrumental in exposing the prison colony of Devil's Island.
[edit] References
- ^ Krakovitch, Odile (January, 1985). "Les archives des bagnes de Cayenne et de Nouvelle-Calédonie : la sous-série colonies H aux archives nationales". Revue d'histoire du XIXe siècle 1985-01.
- ^ CNES, Dossier de presse Îles du Salut
- ^ CNES, Les Îles du Salut
[edit] Further reading
- Belbenoit, René. 1940. Hell on Trial. Translated from the Original French Manuscript by Preston Rambo. E. P Dutton & Co. Reprint by Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1941.
- Belbenoit, René. 1938. Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead. Reprint: Berkley (1975). ISBN 0-425-02950-6. Reprint: Bantam Books, 1971.
- Charrière, Henri. Papillon. Reprints: Hart-Davis Macgibbon Ltd. 1970. ISBN 0-246-63987-3 (hbk); Perennial, 2001. ISBN 0-06-093479-4 (sbk).
- Godfroy Marion, Bagnards Tallandier, 2008.
- Godfroy Marion, Bagnards édition du chêne, 2002 (Best coffee table book of the year by "Le Monde").
