 henri charriÃ¨re (; 16 november 1906 &nbsp;â 29 july 1973) was convicted as a murderer by the french courts, and was chiefly known as the author of papillon, a hugely successful memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in french guiana. while charriÃ¨re claimed that papillon was largely true, modern researchers believe that much of the bookâs material came from other inmates, rather than charriÃ¨re himself. to his final days charriÃ¨re strenuously denied his murder conviction, however he freely admitted to having committed various other petty crimes prior to his incarceration. ==biography== ===early life=== charriÃ¨re was born at saint-Ãtienne-de-lugdarÃ¨s, ardÃ¨che, france. he had two older sisters. his mother died when he was 10. at 17 in 1923, he enlisted in the french navy and served for two years. after that, he became a member of the paris underworld. he later married and had a daughter. ===imprisonment===  according to his book, papillon, charriÃ¨re was convicted on 26 october 1931 of the murder of a pimp named roland le petit, a charge that he strenuously denied. he was sentenced to life in prison and ten years of hard labour. after a brief imprisonment at the transit prison of beaulieu in caen, france, he was transported in 1933 to the prison of st-laurent-du-maroni on the maroni river, in the penal settlement of mainland french guiana. according to the book, he made his first escape on 28 november 1933,henri charriÃ¨re, papillon (hart-davis macgibbon, 1970) 37 days later, joined by fellow prisoners andrÃ© maturette and joanes clousiot, who would accompany him throughout much of his time on the run. the trio were shipwrecked near the village of riohacha, northern caribbean region of colombia, and were imprisoned. charriÃ¨re subsequently escaped during a rainy night and fled to the la guajira peninsula, where he was adopted by an indian tribe. he spent several 
1906_births 1973_deaths Cancer_deaths_in_Spain Deaths_from_esophageal_cancer Devil\'s_Island_inmates Escapees_from_French_detention French_escapees French_memoirists French_people_convicted_of_murder French_prisoners_sentenced_to_life_imprisonment People_convicted_of_murder_by_France People_from_ArdA"che Prisoners_sentenced_to_life_imprisonment_by_France