Evening star., 1934-10-21


~ Island-and at Trinidad"
"Fugitives from Devils Island
arrested In British Guiana: re-
turned to French authorities"
Devils Island escape revealed
when bodies Of six French convicts drift ashore
in Brazil"
Scarcely q month passes without its press
story of an escape from Devils Island. Having
spent q Summer in the famous prison. am
particularly interested in these reports-even
though know that none Of them are true.
There has never in history been an escape
from Devils Island!
But there have been numerous escapes from
the penal colony in French Guiana, Of which
Devils Island Is very small part.
lie du Diable itself is one of the group Of
three islands called les lies du Salut 10 miles
of the French Guiana coast. It shelters never
more than a dozen prisoners-and it Is escape
proof. But from the mainland, where nine
tenths Of the deportees are confined, perhaps
two hundred have escaped in the last 10 years,
while probably ten thousand have tried and
failed. These the escapes and failures
about which we read.
However. the general misuse Of the name Is
of small importance. Devils Island, meaning
either the island or the colony is always news.
A ND with good reason For can think Of
no other place in the world where all the
elements Of drama are flung together as
they are in this convict settlement Mystery.
heroism, sin, sacrifice, irony, anguish, horror.
The public has heard so much about the hor-
rors that 1t expects them; even demands them.
And horrors certainly to be found in
abundance. Nevertheless, 7 believe that in
theory this penal colony is an excellent idea.
It is Frances method Of solving her gangster
problem. In America we make heroes OF our
vicious and incorrigible public enemies, and
parole them in order that they may attack US
again. France, notoriously practical and un-
sentimental has far wiser system. She ships
them 1000 miles away to an isolation-point,
where their murders and robberies will be con-
fined to their own kind, and from which point
they are not likely to come back to plague her.
But repeat that I approve only the theory
of Devils Island. In actual practice, the fire.
quent injustice, the human torment and deg
radiation. the terrific mortality rate, are all
shocking to the hardest-boiled American prison
warden who reads about them; and certainly
they are not features to be praised. However.
If it could be moderniZed, disinfected, properly
administered by conscientious officials, then
Devils Island would be the most ideal place in
the world to isolate criminals.
In 1860 during period Of reform under
Louis Napoleon. the French government built
the first Guiana prison, partly on the main
land and partly on the three Hes du Salut. The
idea of prison in South America was favored
were mostly eighteenth century dungeons.
crowded and pestilential. In Guiana there were
sunshine and space. Also there was work to
be DONE Guiana needed colonization. France
saw the way England had developed Australia
by transporting criminals there, and decided to
try the plan herself.
Criticism Of the system did not arise until
1900. In that year partisanship over the
Dreyfus case almost tore France apart, and
turned the spotlight on Devils Island (that is.
the specific island in the Salut group). on
which the celebrated army officer was held
prisoner for alleged treason.
THE spotlight found that Dreyfus was leading
! most wretched existence. True he was
not cast into cell. As were the other dozen
prisoners on the lie du Diable, he was allowed
to live In q small two-room shack In grove
of splendid palms. and cultivate tiny garden.
But he was watched day and night by armed
guards, for In Paris the Dreyfusites were
threatening to nberate him by force and the
prison authorities were taking no chances. He
was allowed not moments privacy. He was
allowed no books, no communication of any
sort. For a man of DreyfuS' very superior in