The first shiploads of chained convicts had…

The first shiploads of chained convicts had arrived in French Guiana from France in 1852.

In 1885, to get rid of habitual criminals and to increase the number of colonists, the French Parliament had passed a law that anyone, male or female, who had more than three sentences for theft of more than three months each, would be sent to French Guiana as a "relégué."

These relégués are to be kept in prison there for six months but then freed to become settlers in the colony.

However, this experiment is a dismal failure.

The prisoners are unable to make a living off the land and so are forced to revert again to crime, or to eke out a hand-to-mouth existence until they die.

In fact, being sent to French Guiana as a relégué is a life sentence, and usually a short life sentence, as most of the relégués die very quickly from disease and malnutrition.

The prisoners would arrive at St Laurent du Maroni before being transported to various camps throughout the country.

The Iles du Salut, reserved since 1852 for only the worst criminals of France, are used to house political prisoners and for solitary confinement.

The islands have become notorious for the brutality of life there, centering around the notorious Île du Diable, or Devil's Island.

Île Royale is for the general population of the worst criminals of the penal colony to roam about in moderate freedom due to the difficulty of escape from the island.

Île Saint-Joseph is for the worst of those criminals to be punished in solitary confinement in silence and for extra punishment in darkness of the worst of the worst criminals of the penal colony.

Île du Diable is for political prisoners.