The remnants of the old dock where the prisoners would have been put ashore after a long sail from France.
The Gates to the Transportation Centre - the new arrivals were stripped, washed, issued with uniforms and sorted into categories.
The accommodation blocks for prisoners who were not being subjected to additional punishment. After the prison closed these blocks were purchased by a local businessman for housing, and finally bought by the Town of St Laurent in 1992. This area was not open to the public.
Many prisoners were sent this way, for punishment.
Convicts awaiting a further hearing for misdemeanours were locked in one of 4 identical Blockhouses at night, up to 60 men in these blocks, sleeping on the concrete. Additional punishment involved being shackled by the ankle to the steel bar for up to 22 hours a day.
Once the disciplinary hearing had taken place, prisoners were frequently sentenced to long periods of solitary confinement in very small cells.
Solitary confinement cells - one section of 12 cells was reserved for those awaiting the death sentence. The guillotine was conveniently located just in front of the cells.
A single cell, complete with ankle shackle - prisoners sometimes spent years in these cells.
Cell 47. Papillon spent two years in here after his first escape attempt.
Papillon's first escape attempt involved a trip up stream to Leper's Island. In the days before a cure was found, Leper's were sent to live out their lives away from the uninflected population - the Lepers provided Papillon with a good boat and greatly helped him on his way.
Leper's Island, a couple of miles upstream from St Laurent. All that remains now are some stone bases, the recently added roofs make the perfect support for a hammock and a pic-nic. Amazingly, Papillon made it all the way to Trinidad, a good 500 miles, before he made landfall.
Papillon himself spent 11 months on the run, much of the time with an Indiginous Indian tribe on the Venezuelan / Columbian border before deciding to go back to civilisation for revenge. Unfortunately for him, he was caught again and transported to the Isles du Salut - also known as Devil's Islands, where escape was considered extremely difficult.
We followed the trail to the Islands.
Sunrise, leaving the Maroni.
Once we had left the river, the wind and current were against us - it was a hard sail, the 100 miles took us almost two days. We set off with another Rally yacht, Atla - they were boarded by customs and searched for two hours off the French Guyana coast.
The Douane - French Customs boat came and had a close look at us but presumably had their hands full with Atla so left us to continue in peace.
Arriving at the Isles du Salut, also called the Devil's Islands. Finally released by the Customs, Atla is the other yacht in the anchorage.
The view from Isle Royale. The mainland is 15 km in the distance.
The first island we visited was Isle Royale, the largest of the islands at 0.16 sq miles (100 acres) it housed about 1000 'common law' or petty criminals and the Administration Officers.
Situated next to the light house, the Hospital dominates the top of the island.
The Hospital
It is no longer safe to go into the building.
But with its own Ice Maker outside the door it clearly was a well appointed facility in its day!
There is a large church on the island, and also the remains of a Nunery - the Nuns did not agree with the harsh treatment of the prisons and the ongoing conflict caused them to leave after a fairly short stay on the island.
Reclaimed by nature - the original 1850's Nun's accommodation block.
This was the reservoir - there were also some wells on the island.
And of course some solitary confinement cells.
Solitary cells - there was no thought of correction or education in those days, just punishment.
Interestingly you can now stay on the island in little chalets - the prison island has become a little haven for those seeking a very quiet holiday.
Devil's Island is the smallest of the three, and was used to house approximately 100 political prisoners who were kept. You are not able to visit the island, when it was in Prison a cable was used to transport provisions and possibly guards - when the sea was calm, small boats were used to row prisoners across the gap.
The third island in the group is St Joseph. Smaller than Royale at a mere 0.05 sq miles (35 acres) it held escapers and troublemakers. Not surprisingly there were lots of cells for solitary confinement, and Papillon spent 18 months of an 8 year sentence in one such cell when recaptured after his earlier escape.
The Cells - the roof has long since collapsed, as has the walkway over the cells used by the guards - an alternative take on the punishment here was that it was a place of incessant supervision and complete silence - no speaking at all. Even the guards didn't wear shoes in order to maintain the oppressive silence.
A single cell - the ceiling is steel bars, the guards were overhead and looked down on the prisoners below. They were allowed out for a walk in another larger cell for one hour per day.
Again, the jungle is doing a very good job of hiding the evidence!
One of the three main accommodation blocks, prisoners slept in rows of hammocks here.
A few ceiling beams remain, but the building is falling into ruins now.
Many many prisoners died on the islands and they were simply thrown in the sea between Royale and St Joseph's islands at 6pm - at that time this sustained a very large and healthy shark population. Further discouraging the prisoners from trying to escape by sea!
Wardens and other prison employees were buried in this cemetery - interestingly only the graves of clergymen are still intact - the rest look very much as if they have been vandalised.
Despite their history, they are beautiful islands - with lots of wildlife.
The peacock that joined us for lunch.
Lots of little monkeys.
And this is an Agouti - looks like a cross between a Guinea pig and a kangaroo!
We could have spent longer on the islands, and unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the mainland towns of Kourou and Cayenne. We had planned to visit by road earlier to see the rocket launch, but unfortunately they only go once a month, and the bus drivers were on strike that day! We did see the rocket from St Laurent - even from 70 km away it was pretty impressive.
The Ariane Rocket launch - 70 km away!
So finally, our route with the Nereids Rally - about 45 tacks down to the Islands, and none on the way back to Tobago!
So it's back to Grenada now, we've got visitors! Clare and Jamie are joining us for a couple of weeks in the Grenadines.
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