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Penal colony

A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to a correctional facility located in a remote location, it is more commonly used to refer to communities of prisoners overseen by wardens or governors having absolute authority.

For the band, see Penal Colony (band).

Historically, penal colonies have often been used for penal labour in an economically underdeveloped part of a state's (usually colonial) territories, and on a far larger scale than a prison farm.

France[edit]

France sent criminals to tropical penal colonies including Louisiana in the early 18th century.[11] Devil's Island in French Guiana, 1852–1939, received forgers and other criminals. New Caledonia and its Isle of Pines in Melanesia (in the South Sea) received transported dissidents like the Communards, Kabyles rebels as well as convicted criminals between the 1860s and 1897.

Brazil had a prison on the island of from 1938 to 1945.

Fernando de Noronha

Following Alexander the Great's conquest of modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan, the was used as a penal colony.[21] Today, 18% of the population of Peshawar has Greek genetic markers.[22]

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

The of Japan used Abashiri Prison in Abashiri, Hokkaido as a penal colony in 1890. The prison later turned into ordinary jail in 1894.

Meiji Government

The of 1636–1912 used general-ruled provinces Jilin (Ningguta) in north-east China and Xinjiang in north-west China as penal colonies.[23]

Qing Empire

Imperial Russia used and Russian Far East for penal colonies (katorga) for criminals and dissidents. Though geographically contiguous with heartland Russia, Siberia provided both remoteness and a harsh climate. In 1857 a penal colony was established on the island of Sakhalin. The Soviet Gulag system and its tsarist predecessor, the katorga system, provided penal labor to develop forestry, logging, and mining industries, construction enterprises, as well as highways and railroads across Siberia and in other areas. In modern Russian Federation, corrective labor colonies are a common type of prison.

Siberia

The under the rule of King Kamehameha III (reigned 1825–1854) replaced the death penalty with exile, and Kahoolawe became a men's penal colony sometime around 1830, while Kaena Point on Lanai served as the female penal colony. The law making the island a penal colony was repealed in 1853.

Kingdom of Hawaii

in Papua was once used by Dutch East Indies authorities as penal colony for revolutionaries.

Boven Digoel

in Indonesia was used as a penal colony during the New Order era to hold political prisoners.

Buru Island

South Africa used Robben Island as a penal colony for anti-apartheid activists.

Apartheid

The Netherlands had a penal colony from the late 19th century. The Department of Justice took over the town of (originally set up by a private company to "re-educate" vagrants from the large cities in the west like Amsterdam) to turn it into a collection of prison buildings. The town stands in the least populated province of Drenthe in the north of the country, isolated in the middle of a vast area of peat and marshland.

Veenhuizen

Some sources refer to forced-labor camps (Arbeitslager) in German-occupied Europe as penal colonies.[24]

Nazi-era

North Korea operates a including prison labor camps and re-education camps.[25]

penal system

operated as a Portuguese penal colony in the Cape Verde Islands, set up in 1936 by the head of the Portuguese government, Salazar, where opponents of this right-wing regime were sent. At least 32 anarchists, communists and other opponents of Salazar's regime died in this camp. The camp closed in 1954 but re-opened in the 1970s to jail African leaders fighting Portuguese colonialism.

Tarrafal

Spain maintained a penal colony on in present-day Equatorial Guinea.[26] The tiny island of Cabrera was also a short-lived penal colony in which approximately 7,000 French prisoners of war from the Battle of Bailén (1808) were left on their own for years; less than half of them survived.[27]

Fernando Po

Taiwan had a penal colony at during Chiang Kai Shek's White Terror of 1949–1987. As of 2015 the island is a tourist destination.

Green Island

in Vietnam was used as a penal colony both by the French colonists (from 1861 onwards) and by the Republic of Vietnam (from 1954 and during the Vietnam War of 1955–1975).

Côn Đảo Island

used Fezzan as a penal colony, because it was the most remote province from then the capital city, Istanbul.

The Ottoman Empire

There are penal colonies in the Philippines, namely in Palawan, and Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao.

Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm

Alcatraz

History of Australia

Media related to Penal colonies at Wikimedia Commons