The entire following day was devoted to a trip to Devil’s Island, home to a notorious maximum-security prison. The prison was built in 1852. France used it to exile to distant Guiana primarily political prisoners. Inmates included conspirators against Napoleon, the famous Alfred Dreyfus who was falsely accused of spying for Germany, and hardened thieves and murderers.
The Salvation Islands consists of three main islands. The smallest of them, Devil’s island, was for high-profile prisoners. The largest, Royale island, housed the guards and administration, utility buildings, workshops, and the general prison. St. Joseph was for solitary confinement and punishment. It is not possible to land on Devil’s island. Visitors can tour the other two islands.
Prisoners perished from tropical diseases and cruel treatment. Only a handful managed to escape. Only a handful managed to escape. Several books were written about Devil’s Island; the most famous of them, “Papillon” by Henri Charrière, was adapted into a movie. My favorite book about a true escape story from this prison is “Damned and Damned Again” by William Willis.
The monkeys were a real nuisance. One of them started rummaging through our belongings when we went swimming. A man from our group stepped onto the shore and shooed the monkey away. It climbed up a palm tree and threw two coconuts at him. One of them struck the man on the shoulder. He wasn’t injured much, but had the coconut hit his head, the consequences could have been far more serious.
If a prisoner managed to leave the prison after serving his sentence, he was required to remain in Guyana for a period equal to the length of his original sentence before he could finally leave. In this way, France addressed the colony’s need for cheap labor. The prison operated for 100 years until 1953.
