DESCRIPTION: Unrecorded plan for the French Penal Colony at St. Laurent along the Maroni River in French Guyana. Established by Napoleon III in 1850, for almost 100 years St. Laurent de Maroni was the main penal establishment of French Guiana. Rare.
Henri Charriere, the famous prisoner Papillon of the eponymously named film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, was a prisoner at St. Laurent de Maroni. The prison can be found on the map at top center surrounded by a wall . The prison complex included a old hospital and a new hospital, a transportation camp, the "Quartier Disciplinaire. The hospital was among the inmates favorites. Many prisoners faked illnesses just to be sent to the hospital so that they could plan their escape more easily.
The town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni proper was founded on 16 March 1880. St. Laurent was a penal town whose inhabitants were nearly all guards or liberated prisoners. The hospital was built in 1912, and the prison itself closed in 1946, the same year the whole colonial penal system was abolished.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1912
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Guiana
BODY OF WATER: Maroni River
CONDITION: Fair.
Short margins. Bottom margin and neatline missing with minor losses.
COLORING: Hand coloring.
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 16
" x
8 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 88
PRICE: $600
ADD TO CART
|