Editing Devil's Island (section)

===Alleged and successful escapes===

====Charles DeRudio====
After an attempt on 14 January 1858, to assassinate Emperor [[Napoleon III]], [[Charles DeRudio]] was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. He escaped with twelve others, making their way to [[British Guiana]]. In later life, he joined the American Army and survived the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]].

====Clément Duval====
[[Clément Duval]], an [[anarchist]], was sent to Devil's Island in 1886. Originally [[Capital punishment|sentenced to death]], he later received a commuted sentence of [[hard labour]] for life. He escaped in April 1901 and fled to New York City, where he remained for the rest of his life. He eventually wrote a book about his imprisonment called ''Revolte''.

====François Frean, Paul Renuci, Raymond Vaude, and Giovanni Batistoti====
Four escapees from Devil's Island - François Frean, 37, Paul Renuci, 32, Raymond Vaude, 35, all French, and Giovanni Batistoti, 35<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=48AvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rUMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5954,2204552|title=The Virgin Islands Daily News – Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> - arrived in [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|St.&nbsp;Thomas]], [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] on 18 October 1936. Their native boat was nearly wrecked on the reef and the convicts were initially entertained as guests and treated for injuries at the Municipal Hospital.

====Henri Charrière and Sylvain====
[[Henri Charrière]]'s bestselling book ''[[Papillon (autobiography)|Papillon]]'' (1969) describes his successful escape from Devil's Island, with a companion, Sylvain. They used two sacks filled with coconuts to act as rafts. According to Charrière, the two men leaped into heavy seas from a cliff and drifted to the mainland over a period of three days. Sylvain died in [[quicksand]] a short distance from the shore. From there, Charrière was to meet a man by the name of Cuic-Cuic who would help him continue and complete his escape to freedom; instead Charrière was caught again and served for a time in the Bagne at [[El Dorado, Venezuela]]. Once finally freed, he remained in Venezuela.

Charrière's account aroused considerable controversy. French authorities disputed it and released penal colony records that contradicted his account. Charrière had never been imprisoned on Devil's Island. He had escaped from a mainland prison. French journalists or prison authorities disputed other elements of his book and said that he had invented many incidents or appropriated experiences of other prisoners.<ref name="Mail & Guardian">[http://www.mg.co.za/article/2005-06-26-papillon-alive-and-well-in-a-paris-retirement-home "Papillon alive and well in a Paris retirement home"],''Mail & Guardian'', 26 June 2005.</ref> Critics said he should have admitted his book was fiction.<ref name="Mail & Guardian"/>

====Felix Milani====
Felix Milani travelled on the same ship over as Henri Charrière and wrote a book about his experiences titled ''The Convict''.

====René Belbenoît====
[[René Belbenoît]] is perhaps the most renowned escapee of the penal colony, who wrote about his experiences in two well-received memoirs: ''Hell on Trial'' (1940) and '' The Dry Guillotine: Fifteen Years Among the Living Dead'' (1938). After leaving the colony with temporary permission in 1930, he eventually made his way to the [[Panama Canal]] where he worked for nearly a year. In late 1930, he decided to return to France to argue for his freedom. However, it was a crime for a Devil's Island convict to return to France. He was sent back to French Guiana in 1931 to the prison colony. This time he was sent to Île Royale rather than Devil's Island. He was put into solitary confinement for almost one year. In 1934, he was again released, but as a ''libéré'', or free prisoner, he was, as before in 1930, not allowed to return to France. He eventually made his way to the United States. He gained US citizenship in 1956. He died in California in 1959, age 59.

====Francis Lagrange====
[[:fr:Francis Lagrange|Francis Lagrange]] was a painter and [[forgery|forger]] who wrote a book about his experiences on Devil's Island.{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}}

==== Bernard Carnot ====
According to the second memoir of American sailor and writer [[William Willis (sailor)|William Willis]] (''Damned and Damned Again)'', a few days after New Years in 1938, he rented a room in New York City from a French immigrant named Madame Carnot. Her son, Bernard Carnot, had been sent to Devil's Island in 1922 for a murder that he did not commit, and the Carnot family had since moved to the United States. Out of compassion and a sense of adventure, Willis set out to the penal colony to effect Bernard Carnot's escape, which he eventually accomplished. The subtitle of the book indicates that it documents the 'true story of the last escape from Devil's Island'.

Carnot was smuggled to Brazil aboard a supply ship, and was never reunited with his family, although they learned via Willis that he had gained his freedom. On the outbreak of WW2 he returned to Europe and joined the French forces. He is believed to have been killed in action shortly before the liberation of Strasbourg.