Oh No! You've Been Sentenced to Devil's Island! Quiz

Answer: French Guiana

Christopher Columbus was among the first to discover the new land in South America just north of Brazil, but by the 1600s the French had claimed the area. News of an amazing city called El Dorado brought many French citizens to this new paradise. However, upon settling in, most of the 12,000 people died in the first year of 1763 from diseases and hostile natives.

As the remaining settlers returned to France, news spread that it was a hard land to cultivate and maintain. Napoleon III decided it would be an ideal place to send criminals from the overcrowded jails and floating prisons.

He hoped that after their time was served they could become the settlers he wanted in the new land.

Answer: Three

Most of the prisoners were held in the main compound inland. However, the penal group also covered three islands named Isles du Salut. These three rocky islands each handled specific prisoners. Royale was where the administrative body stayed. However, it was also where prisoners who broke rules were sent to do back-breaking labor cutting stones to form a road that never was completed. St. Joseph was the island where those unfortunate souls who had solitary confinement were sent.

Here they spent most of their time in total darkness and complete silence before many went insane.

The final island, Devil's Island itself, was where political prisoners were kept.

Answer: Tightly manacled to a bolt on the hard bed

Prisoners worked twelve hours a day doing everything from constructing buildings out of local clay bricks to cleaning the facilities. The camp was organized according to the type of criminal and housing differed on this basis. There were some barracks, some communal cells, and some solitary cells that only measured 1.8 x 2 meters. Regardless, the beds were made of concrete or wood and each night their feet would be manacled to a metal bolt at the foot of the bed.

A rough block of wood sufficed as the pillow.

Answer: In your lower intestines

A plan is a small tube used as a suppository that contains hidden "necessities" for prison life. Having heard tales of the harsh life at Devil's Island, prisoners would load up a plan with things like currency, small tools, medicine, etc. They then hid them in their lower intestines so as not be detected by guards and prison personnel.

The plans were made of aluminum, even gold at times, or other non-corrosive materials. Prisoners would "hold" these plans for years at a time. For those fortunate few who actually received letters or packages from home, anything worth keeping was added to the hidden plan.

Answer: Papillon

Henri Charriere was convicted in France of murder and sent to Devil's Island. As soon as he reached the area, he began plans of escape. However, as was pointed out by the jail's commander, escape was practically fruitless. If one tried to go by way of the jungle, snakes and hostile local tribes were waiting. If one tried to go by water, either the piranha in the rivers or the sharks in the water were biding their time. And if one were caught trying to escape, there was the penalty of doing time on one of the islands either in solitary confinement or harsh labor in the steaming heat. Charriere was held in the penal compound for over 11 years and dared several escapes.

His final successful one was in 1941 when he used a makeshift raft of coconut bags to float to freedom.

He was called Papillon because of his butterfly tattoo and the fact he preferred freedom.

Answer: Diseases such as malaria

The hospitals that served the guards and inmates were located on the mainland and a smaller one on Royale. Both were under-staffed and did not carry enough equipment or medicine. The men were fed barely enough to keep them alive and most were severely malnourished.

This also caused them to be especially susceptible to the diseases that abounded in the area. They had to contend with malaria, yellow fever, typhus, cholera, and even leprosy. Added to all of this was the fact that poisonous insects and reptiles swarmed the area and even bats attacked the prisoners, many of whom contacted rabies from the flying nocturnal mammals.

Answer: Their head was chopped off with a guillotine

The guillotine at Devil's Island was nicknamed "The Merry Widow". It was used as the punishment for any inmate who injured or killed a guard or an employee of the facility. When someone was caught in this act, the rest of the inmates were ordered outside to watch.

Another inmate, usually one detested by the rest, was chosen to operate the machinery. The piece of equipment often had a rusty blade due to the rainy weather and many times the blade had to be dropped more than once to sever the head. Afterwards, the head was held up for all prisoners to view and then often sent overseas to France to prove justice was being done in the colony.

Answer: They are thrown into the shark infested waters

There are two cemeteries on the Devil's Island compound. One on St. Joseph's island is for the employees of the facility and their wives. A smaller one on Royale Island is for children of the families that lived there and maintained the prisons. The inmates themselves were treated in a rather more unceremonious way.

They were wrapped in a simple shroud, rowed out into the ocean, and dumped overboard. The area where they were dropped was a feeding ground for the local sharks who would wait for their next meal.

In a macabre twist, local fisherman often killed the sharks in that area and sold the meat back to the prison to be served to inmates.

Answer: In a local convent which also served as a prison

France was interested in colonizing the French Guiana area. They decided to send some of their convicted WOMEN prisoners there to, hopefully, eventually marry the male prisoners and start families in the country. Over 500 women were shipped overseas and were held in a local convent run by the Sisters of St. Joseph de Cluny.

The nuns not only helped the women spiritually but also were, in effect, their jailers. Supervised visits were arranged between male convicts about to be paroled and the females at the convent.

However, things did not go as planned. Since most of the women were convicted of killing their own children, the men were not keen on raising more with them. And the harsh environmental conditions caused the women to be sick also. By 1907, the practice had ceased.

Answer: False

The French government had instituted a policy called doublage concerning Devil's Island. This means that after an inmate serves his time, he must also live in French Guiana for an EQUAL amount of years. If he served over 8 years, he must live there forever.

This was to "encourage" colonization of the area. The inmates were given a small parcel of land but were expected to earn their own living. This was difficult as many had no skills in this new land and the locals looked down upon them. The vast majority of the poor souls send to Devil's Island never made it home to France whether from an early death or enforced colonization.