Devil's Island

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

For other uses, see Devils Island.

Devil's Island

Devil's Island (French: Île du Diable or bagne) 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.

1 Use as penal colony
2 Aftermath
3 Cultural references
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Use as penal colony

Image:Iles-salut.png

Map of Devil's Island, or Île du Diable.

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 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.

Used by France from 1852 to 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.

In May 30, 1854, law describes 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 should 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] 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 Guyana Space Center. The islands are under the trajectory of the space rockets launched eastwards, seawards from the Center (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, 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.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall starred in a 1944 film titled To Have and Have Not which references Devil's Island multiple times. In one scene, Lauren Bacall's character mentions flying over Devil's Island on her way to Martinique (the setting of the film.) The film suggests it to be a terrible place.

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 ninth episode (original air date 11 November 1966) of the science fiction television series The Time Tunnel, entitled "Devil's Island", dealt with the Dreyfus case.

Thrash metal band Megadeth released a song on their 1986 album Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? titled "Devil's Island".

There are suspicions that Black Bart Roberts' treasure, plundered from Portuguese vessels off the Coast of Bahia, Brazil, was hidden here. There is no documented proof to support these tales. However, several of his crew, upon capture, told of hiding swag in the caves 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. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
^ 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).
CNES, Dossier de presse Îles du Salut