Evil Past on Devil’s Island

By Islomaniac | July 22, 2007

Island names have a tendency to reflect their past, Devil’s Island in French Guiana is no exception. Devil’s Island is a 34.6 located off the coast of French Guiana and up until 1946 it was the home of a French penal colony. For almost 100 years this island was the home and final resting place for some of France’s most hardened criminals. Click below to read the full story of this historical island.

Devil’s Island

Image source:

The penitentiary was first opened by Emperor Napoleon III’s, and became one of the most infamous prisons in history. Used by France from 1852 to 1946, the inmates were everything from political prisoners 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 as a result very few convicts ever managed to escape.

In time, a variety of penal regimes emerged, convicts being divided into categories according to the severity of their crimes. 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.

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 to 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 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; therefore they were required to be evacuated prior to each launch.

Recently, The space agency, in association with other agencies, has had the historical monuments restored. Tourist facilities were added; the islands now welcome more than 50000 tourists each year.

Reference

Share This Subscribe to This Blog

Topics: Remote Islands, Weird and Wacky, Islands and Politics |