That time again….my little history lesson and beyond.

Did you see the movie Papillon?

If so then that was about the penal colony for France in South America.

Devil’s Island, its true name Cayenne, is a penal colony of French Guiana with a haunted history. Here lie the crumbled remains of a prison opened in 1852. Infamous for housing French political prisoners cast out of France by Emperor Napoleon III, it eventually became home to tens of thousands of hardened criminals. It even served as the backdrop for the 1973 action-thriller film Papillon. Nestled among the palm trees and tropical setting hides a turbulent past truth.

Prisoners were subjected to strict and inhumane treatment, making Devil’s Island aptly named. Kept in dark cells and forbidden to talk, read or even sit down throughout the day, the prison guards made the criminals’ lives a nightmare. Talking to a guard could end in severe punishment.

When details of the inhumane conditions of the prison were leaked, a public outcry led to the system’s end in 1938. But the penal colony did not close until after World War II, finally shutting down in 1946. Since its abhorrent history as a terrible prison, others have tried using the island for other means. From a police station to a shark fishing factory to a summer camp to a plant oil factory, none succeeded. Eventually, the island was abandoned, and nature took over the buildings.

I brought up this bit of history because news has broken that France will open a prison near the original location.

Deep in the Amazon jungle, France plans to open a $450 million high-security prison to isolate drug lords and radical Islamists—turning a notorious former penal colony into a fortress for modern criminals. French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin on Sunday announced the plan to build the high-security prison in the overseas territory of French Guiana, to open as early as 2028, per the BBC. The facility will sit deep in the Amazon near Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, the site of the infamous Devil’s Island penal colony, where 70,000 convicts from mainland France were sent between 1852 and 1954. The site inspired 1973’s Papillon, starring Steve McQueen, per CNN.

Designed for about 500 inmates, the prison will include a wing reserved for the most dangerous prisoners. Darmanin said the prison will enforce a strict protocol intended to disrupt contact between powerful criminal figures and their networks, especially drug lords “at the beginning of the drug trail.” The remote location was chosen in part to prevent inmates from communicating with outside networks. The announcement follows a wave of violence targeting prisons and staff in France, incidents the government links to its crackdown on organized crime.

French Guiana serves as a “strategic crossroads” for drug trafficking, particularly from Brazil and Suriname, and the new prison is part of broader efforts to control organized crime. Gangs have pushed the territory’s homicide rate to 18.4 per 100,000 people, compared to 1.2 per 100,000 in mainland France, per CNN. Recent government action also includes tough new laws, a dedicated prosecutors’ branch for organized crime, expanded investigative powers, and special protected status for informers. As French authorities face ongoing challenges such as widespread smuggling of mobile phones into prisons, stricter control over visitation and communication for high-risk prisoners is planned.

Fascinating…..will it become as infamous as the original?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”