Papillon

Remember that old (1973) Steve McQueen/Dustin Hoffman movie “Papillon”?  Devil’s Island.  And here we are.

Devil’s Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Iles du Salut located about nine miles off the coast of French Guiana, and at only 131 feet above sea level.  It’s mostly covered with coconut palms.

The penitentiary was first opened by Emperor Napoleon III’s government in 1852.  Prisons were located on all three islands, and on the mainland at Kourou.

More than 80,000 prisoners were sent to Devil’s Island.  Many were never seen again.  Actually, Devil’s Island housed the less violent convicts, especially political prisoners and lepers.

The law stated that an inmate who finished his sentence and was released still had to stay in French Guiana for an amount of time equal to his forced labor time.  If the original sentence was for more than eight years, the prisoner had to remain in French Guiana for the rest of his life.  The released prisoner was given land to settle on.

The French government stopped sending prisoners to Devil’s Island in 1938.  In 1952 the prison closed.

In an interesting switch, in 1965, the French government transferred the responsibility of most of the islands to the newly founded Guiana Space Center.  The islands are under the trajectory of the space rockets launched eastward, toward the sea, from the center.  The islands have to be evacuated during each launch.

Around 50,000 tourists visit the island each year.  Actually, they visit Ile Royale.  You can’t really visit Ile du Diable.  And there’s no dock at Ile Royale big enough for our ship.  So we have to anchor and go ashore by tender.  It keeps big ships from coming and people who don’t like to tender.

Because of the rough waters, in the past a cable car was used to transport food and people between Ile Royale and Devil’s Island.  There’s just part of a tower left on Ile Royale.

What do you see today?  Some ruins of the old prison and prison cells, including the solitary confinement cells, death row, and the site of the guillotine.  The chapel still stands on the hill.  There is a lighthouse, still in use.  And you might see monkeys, scarlet macaws and peacocks.

One thing I find odd.  There’s a hotel on Ile Royale.  It is small, but apparently comfortable.  It has to be more comfortable than the cells.