trippin’

Ile du Diable (Devil’s island), the smallest of the island group Iles du Salut, was the notorius French penalty colony until 1950s. The islands were made famous by the novel (and later movie) Papillon by Henri Charriere. He was imprisoned there for 9 years and managed to escape.

This photo is actually taken in Ile du Royale, which was housing a hospital and a mental asylum and administrative buildings, and also the residences of the guards and their families. Guards and the families were sort of prisoners alike, they basicly didn’t have a possibility to go anywhere either. The climate was unhuman and diseases killed constantly.

More information here.

The graveyard behind the now-ruined hospital tells the sad story of the harsh life in the islands. These, mostly women and children, are lucky to have a marked tombs, anyhow. 80 000 of the inmates never came back from the island – and their corpses were thown to the sharks.

March 2006.