Until the mid twentieth century the colony of French Guiana was used by the French government as a kind of huge penal colony, to incarcerate their most violent criminals as well as to house political prisoners. Most notably Dreyfus was jailed there. The brutality and impregnability of the penatentiaries, consisting of a large work camp at St. Laurent du Maroni as well several isolated islands -- St. Joseph, Royale, and Diable -- were mythologized in the partially fictitious book Papillon, which was made into a popular feature movie. Numerous escapes were attempted, usually resulting in capture...