Devil's Island
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- For other uses, see Devils Island.
Devils Island (French: Île du Diable) is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located off the coast of French Guiana at . It has an area of 14 hectares (34.6 acres). It was a notorious French penal colony until 1946.
The rocky, palm-covered island is 40 meters (131 ft) high. 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 prison on the island, 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.
Used by France from 1852 to 1946, the inmates were everything from "political" prisoners (for example, 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.
The May 30, 1854 law provided that convicts would then be forced to stay in French Guiana following their release for a time equal to their forced labor time, or, for sentences exceeding 8 years, for the remainder of their life. They were to be provided with land to settle on. With 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 should marry the freed male inmates; however, the results were poor and the government ceased 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] Cultural references
Several movies, songs, a stage play, as well as a number of books feature Devil's Island. The most famous was a 1970 best-selling book by an ex-Devil's Island convict named Henri Charrière 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.
Before the bestseller Papillon, Rene Belbenoit's book, titled Dry Guillotine published in 1938, was instrumental in exposing the prison colony of Devil's Island. The novel "Plan de evasión" by Adolfo Bioy Casares contains many references to the island.
The French folk song Cayenne (named after the main city of French Guiana) tells the story of a pimp who shoots a well-to-do client who grossly showed disrespect to a prostitute, and is then convicted and transferred to the infamous penitentiary.
The popular song "Nuthing ni go so" by french group Notch, describes the struggle of one of the last lonely prisoners on the island. Colin Horne, whose right to identity did not matter on Devil Island was once a successful business man but was accused of treason and sent to Devil Island. Notch sings about how his inner demon flourished on the Island and the inner castle wall crimes he commited ( ie. Raping an inmate to death just to have an extra share of bread that nite ).
[edit] The end of Devil's Island
In 1938 the French government stopped sending prisoners to Devil's Island, and in 1952 the prison closed permanently. Most of the prisoners returned to Metropolitan France, although some chose to remain in French Guiana.
[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).
