Evening star., 1933-09-06
PRISONERS FLEE I
DEVILS ISLAND
frances "Dry GuiIIotine"
Again Brought Into World .
Notice.
BY the Associated Press.

Wholesale escapes from Devils Island
and other penal colonies in French
Guiana have focused the attention Of
the world again on the dry guillotine,"
so famed In tales Of fact and fiction.
guished through long. lonely years, q
victim Of the amazing Count Esterhazy
plot, on Devils Island, fantastic tales
have been>woven around this tiny spot,
81 miles Oh the French Guiana coast.
It's verdant, Not Bleak.
Many Of them have been misleading.
Devils Island Is not An arid, sun
scc---ed rock, nor Is it an impenetrable
ie area. 1t is a verdant dot on
vie map dominated by groves Of lofty
coconut trees,
It is one OF three islands that make
up the penal stations in French Guiana.
The group Is known as the isles Of
Island, the Island of st. Joseph, with
its prison hospital. and the Isle Royale,
with tiers Of tiny stone cells for In
corrigibles. - 5.-,-t
Devils Island is reserved for political
prisoners who have been sentenced to
life imprisonment. Life there is far
less rigorous than at the other convict
stations.
Colony u Prisonera
There are no dungeons. barred win
dows or high walls. The 'lifers" hive
in small cabins, wear their own clothing
and are allowed their own books ard
newspapers. Although only about 900
miles north Of the Equator sea breezes
cool the atmosphere. making it more
healthful than many settlements along
the swamp-fringed, jungle-chd main.
land.
Virtually the entire foreign popula-
ton Of French Guiana Is made up Of
men and women who have been con-
vtcted OF crimes In the French courts.
They are known Is ''hberes" ana may
be found in the coast towns and farm
ing and mining regions Of the interior.
Not Overpopulated.
This is because culprits sent to French
Guiana for more than eight years must
remain for life. A man sentenced for
a lesser period must spend one year
in the colony for each year Of his
sentence before he can return to France
Then he or his family or friends must
pay his way home or he, too, ends his
days in the colony
Devils Island itself is not overpopu-
lated. In recent years there have at
times been fewer than Q dozen pris-
oners there. They are mostly spies.
Three are aviAtors.
All Glasses deprecated.
All professions and trades are repre-
sented among the "hberes." On the
streets Of Cayenne, xite Of one Of the
colony's largest prisons, stroll former
lawyers, doctors. engineers, artists and
peasants, as well as former habitues
of the slums Of Paris and Marseille.
Many are Senegalese, Arabs, Hindus
and Indo- Chinese.
The "liberes" are free to work for
wages. Some Of them are in partner.
ship with the natives: some operate
small shops Still others spend their
time carving figures of animals, women
and birds out Of hardwood
All exc out bare existence until
death or judgment Of the French courts
has been satisfied.
Syndicate Aids Escapes.
Escape often has been pictured g
almost impossible, because the colony
Is hemmed in by junsles infested with
snakes and wild animals. However,
within . year, more than 100 Of the
prisoners have fed. presumably through
the connivance Of . secret Syndicate
which has aided criminals to mako
their way through jungles or across the
Caribbean to the West Indies.
It Is known, however, that . number
Of escaped men have periShed in the
dangerous jungles.