Devil's Island:

Devil's Island (French: Île du Diable) is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 6 nautical miles (11 km/6.9 mi) 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.

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 239 republicans who opposed Napoleon III's coup d'Etat) 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.

Attempted escapes

Clément Duval

Devil's Island was used mainly for French prisoners from 1852 to 1946.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 for the rest of his life. He eventually wrote a book on his time of imprisonment called Revolte.

Henri Charrière

Charrière's bestselling book Papillon describes a supposedly successful escape from Devil's Island, with a companion, Sylvain, using two sacks filled with coconuts. According to Charrière, the two men leapt into heavy seas from a cliff and drifted to the mainland over a period of three days.

Charrière's account aroused considerable controversy and was disputed by the French authorities, who released penal colony records that showed that much of the prisoner's book was untrue. Charrière, the records showed, had never been interned on Devil's Island and had made his escape from a prison camp on the mainland. Numerous other aspects of Charrière's account were challenged by French journalists or prison authorities, and it was claimed that a significant number of the incidents recounted in his book were invented or were experiences of other prisoners which Charrière had appropriated.^[2]

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.

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.

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 eastward, toward the sea, from the Centre (to geostationary orbit). They must be evacuated during each launch. The islands host a variety of measurement apparatus for space launches.^[3]

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.^[4]

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 the movie Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.

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.

An episode of the 1966 television series The Time Tunnel featured the main characters (two time-traveling scientists) trapped on Devil's Island, mistaken for prisoners.

Megadeth's song "Devil's Island" on "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?" is about an inmate at the infamous prison sentenced to death, but haunted by the woman he murdered. When he is brought to burn at the stake, a rain storm is seen as a sign from God and his execution is stayed, but he is doomed to live out his life on Devil's Island, haunted by his past. Dave Mustaine also says in the Rude Awakening DVD "This song is about a movie called Papillon."

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, http://rh19.revues.org/document4.html. Retrieved on 15 November 2007.
^ "Papillon alive and well in a Paris retirement home".Mail & Guardian. - June 26, 2005.
^ CNES, Dossier de presse Îles du Salut
^ CNES, Les Îles du Salut

Devil's Island

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