by Alison 得孟 译

在法属圭亚那探索罗亚尔岛的监狱生活

Discovering Prison Life on Ile Royale, French Guiana

by Alison 得孟 译

Just off the coast of French Guiana sit Les Iles du Salut, 3 islands with a dark past.

Despite the beauty and biodiversity of its nature, French Guiana, like much of this stretch of South American coastline, has a1)brutal past. From2)colonisation came3)rampant tropical diseases, slavery, and much suffering of the4)indigenous peoples. Some of the darkest days were during the time of the5)penal colonies, from the 1850s to the 1950s.

You don’t have to look far to see the scars of the past. There are art installations, museums, and, most noticeably, ruins of the prisons of the past. These prisons, known here as“6)bagnes”, were located throughout the region and their ruins serve as daily reminders of this brutal past.

French Guiana was not always the tropical holiday destination it is today. In fact, during its penal colony days, being sent “en Guyane” was the ultimate form of punishment, reserved primarily for the worst of France’s criminals.

Ironically, one of the most7)notorious of French Guiana’s prison colonies was located on Les Iles du Salut, or Islands of Salvation, three small islands, now serving as nature reserves and day-trip holiday destinations for the French Guianese. During prison times, they were collectively called Iles du Diable, or Devil’s Islands, a name that remains with the smallest of the three.

三个有着黑暗历史的岛屿组成了萨吕群岛，坐落在法属圭亚那海岸边。

除了自然景观的美和生物种类丰富以外，法属圭亚那像很多南美沿海地区一样，有着野蛮的历史。殖民给土著居民带来了猖獗的热带疾病、奴隶制度和种种深重苦难。19世纪50年代至20世纪50年代期间作为流放地的时期是其最黑暗的时期之一。

想要找历史的伤痕并不费劲，有装置艺术作品、博物馆，还有最显而易见的旧时监狱的废墟。这些法语里称为“bagnes”的监狱遍布整个岛屿，监狱的废墟时刻提醒人们勿忘那一段野蛮的历史。

法属圭亚那并非一直以来都是如今这样的热带度假胜地。事实上，在它作为流放地的那段时光，被判“在圭亚那”是一种终极刑罚，主要是为法国最恶劣的罪犯而保留的刑罚手段。

讽刺的是，法属圭亚那最臭名昭著的殖民地监狱位于萨吕群岛，或者叫救赎群岛，其三个小岛现在是自然保护区和法属圭亚那居民的一日游度假胜地。在监狱云集的时期，这三个岛被一并称作“Iles du Diable”，即恶魔群岛，如今最小的那个岛保留了这个名字。

法属圭亚那是法国位于南美洲东北部的一个海外属地，濒临大西洋，与巴西和苏里南交界。萨吕群岛是法属圭亚那海岸的火山岛群，由首府卡宴的库鲁镇管辖。1852年至1946年之间，法国把重犯流放到该群岛，因此当时整个群岛被称为“恶魔群岛”。主要岛屿为罗亚尔岛（又称皇家岛）、圣约瑟夫岛和恶魔岛。……