Georgia Was A Penal Colony

A prison hulk in Toulon harbor

A penal colony was a colonial community, often established in an underdeveloped office of a state's territory, to detain societal prisoners. Prisoners were generally used for punitive labor on a far larger scale than general prison farms. Throughout history, penal labor has represented a common form of punishment throughout numerous countries worldwide. Parallels can exist drawn between the katorga and the American chain gang, or the convict settlements in Australia, which played a large role in founding and developing the large land. The historic utilize of penal labor partially attempted to accost the fiscal costs of keeping prisoners, although this sometimes led to unjust sentences to increment the numbers of prison laborers. The majority of penal colonies existing worldwide accept now been abolished, catastrophe this method of often cruel and unusual penalization.

one Penal systems
- 1.one Chain gangs
2 Great United kingdom
- ii.1 North America
- 2.2 Australia
  - 2.2.one Norfolk Island
  - 2.two.two Van Diemen's Land
- 2.3 India
  - 2.3.ane Andaman Islands
  - 2.iii.ii Hijli
3 France
- iii.ane Devil's Island
- 3.2 New Caledonia
4 Russia
- 4.1 Katorga
5 References
half dozen External Links
seven Credits

Penal systems

In the penal colony system, prisoners were deported to distant areas from their homelands to prevent successful escape and to discourage prisoners from returning home after their sentences expired. Penal colonies were oft located in inhospitable frontier lands, where unpaid prisoners labored on behalf of their country'south colonial settlement efforts. Prisoners remained a central source of labor even later on the discovery of immigration labor, due to their zero wage pay. To generate increases in cheap labor, many countries unjustly expelled a big portion of their poor population to penal colonies for picayune or dubious offenses. Eighteenth century Cracking U.k. employed such tactics in the establishment of penal colonies in parts of North America and Australia.

Many detained prisoners of penal colonies faced astringent prison regimes and were field of study to concrete punishment during their terms of hard labor. Detainees oft died from hunger, affliction, exhaustion, or medical neglect, and were killed if they attempted to escape.

Concatenation gangs

A chain gang of convicts going to piece of work near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Dated 1842.

A concatenation gang is a grouping of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging labor, such as chipping rock, often along a highway. Historically, the primary purpose of a chain gang was castigating, with any benefits of the labor beingness outweighed by the costs and risks involved in operating a chain gang. Their presence in public was to serve as a deterrent to criminal offence, especially amid black African Americans. A traditional chain gang is almost universally regarded equally beingness a form of cruel and unusual punishment, and that view, combined with the economic toll of operating chain gangs, led to their decline in the 1950s.

The use of chain gangs was common in Commonwealth of australia, when transportation to the penal colony of Norfolk Island concluded, and prisoners had to complete their sentences within areas of New South Wales colonized by law-abiding settlers.

Britain

Due north America

The British Empire used North America every bit a penal colony through a system of indentured service; N America'south province of Georgia was originally established for such purposes. British convicts would be transported past private sector merchants and auctioned off to plantation owners upon arrival in the colonies. During its course of settlement information technology is estimated that more than than fifty,000 British convicts were banished to colonial America, a population representing one-quarter of all British emigrants during the eighteenth century.

Commonwealth of australia

Afterwards the American Revolutionary State of war, a similar system of Not bad United kingdom's indentured service was transported to Australia. Great britain quickly established parts of the continent equally penal colonies and founded Norfolk Island, Van Diemen's Land, and New S Wales equally such. British affiliates of Merchandise Unionism and advocates of Irish Home Dominion often received sentences that required punitive transportation for terms of hard labor in these Australian colonies.

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Isle is considered the first established penal colony within the Australian continent. Before the sailing of the first British fleet to found the continent'due south first territory, British Governor Arthur Phillip was specifically instructed to colonize its Eastern Norfolk Island to prevent the land from falling into the easily of the French who were also showing interest in the Pacific. When the fleet arrived at mainland Port Jackson in Jan of 1788, Phillip ordered Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to atomic number 82 a political party of 15 convicts and seven complimentary men to establish the island and ready for its commercial development.

It was soon establish that the flax found throughout Norfolk Isle was difficult to prepare for manufacturing and required native skills. Two Māori men, indigenous to New Zealand, were brought to the island to teach the colonists how to prepare and later on weave the flax. The programme, still, would fail as weaving was the work of native women and the two men had little knowledge of it. The colonists also abased Norfolk Island's potential pine timber industry every bit the forest was not resilient enough to craft masts.

Regardless, more convicts arrived and the island was used as a farm to supply Sydney with cereal, grain, and vegetables. However the majority of crops did non survive the overseas transportation due to salty winds, rats, and caterpillars. Sydney also lacked a natural safe harbor which proved to hinder communication and the transport of supplies between the island and the mainland.

In March of 1790, with Sydney facing a widespread famine, a keen number of convicts and marines were transported to Norfolk Island via HMS Sirius to increase the island's productivity. The attempt to relieve Sydney's situation later turned to disaster when the ship was wrecked and virtually stores were destroyed. The entire coiffure was marooned for 10 months. This news was met in Sydney with great business organization as Norfolk Isle was now further cut off from the mainland. With the subsequent inflow of England's 2nd Armada carrying a cargo of sick and driveling convicts, the city had even more pressing problems to argue with.

Every bit early every bit 1794, British officials suggested the island's closure equally a penal settlement as it proved too remote and difficult for shipments, and far too costly to maintain. By 1803, the British Secretary of State called for the dismantling of the Norfolk Island armed services establishment, and exported settlers and convicts to Southern Van Diemen's Country. In February of 1805 the beginning grouping, comprised mainly of convicts, their families, and military personnel, departed from Norfolk Island. By 1808, less than 200 settlers remained and formed a small settlement until all societal remnants were removed in 1813 by a pocket-sized party instructed to slaughter livestock and destroy all buildings leaving little incentive for another European power to colonize the island. The island lay abandoned until 1825.

In 1824, the British regime instructed the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane, to occupy Norfolk Island as a place to send the worst of convict settlers. Its remoteness, seen previously as a disadvantage, was now viewed every bit an asset for the detention of men who had committed further crimes since arriving in New South Wales. Governor General George Arthur of Van Diemen'due south Land believed that prisoners sent to Norfolk Island "should on no account be permitted to return" and the reformation of convicts was dismissed every bit an objective of the Norfolk Island penal settlement.

In 1846, a report of magistrate Robert Pringle Stuart exposed Norfolk Island's scarcity and poor quality of food, inadequacy of housing, horrors of torture, and incessant flogging, insubordination of convicts, and corruption of overseers. Bishop Robert Willson later on visited Norfolk Island and reported similar findings to the House of Lords, who came to realize the enormity of atrocities perpetrated nether the British flag and attempted to remedy the evils. Rumors of resumed atrocities brought Willson back in 1852 and produced a further damning report.

Just a scattering of convicts left whatsoever written record of such atmospheric condition, their descriptions of living and working atmospheric condition, food and housing, and, in item, the punishments given for seemingly niggling offenses are unremittingly horrifying, describing a settlement devoid of all human decency, under the iron rule of the tyrannical autocratic commandants.

The second resurgence of Norfolk Island as a penal settlement began to be wound downwardly by the British Regime afterward 1847, and the last convicts were transported to Tasmania in May 1855.

Van Diemen's Land

Did you lot know?

Tasmania was called Van Diemen'due south Country when it was the primary British penal colony in Commonwealth of australia

Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by the British for the island of Tasmania, now function of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to discover Tasmania. He named the island in honour of Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch Eastward India Company, who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642. In 1803, the isle was colonized past the British Empire as a penal colony with the name Van Diemen'southward Land.

From the 1830s to the abolitionism of penal transportation in 1853, Van Diemen'due south State was the primary penal colony in Commonwealth of australia. Following the suspension of transportation to Norfolk Island, all convicts sent to Commonwealth of australia served their sentences as assigned labor to free settlers, or in chain gangs assigned to public works. Only the most difficult convicts were sent to the Tasman Peninsula prison known as Port Arthur. In total, some 75,000 convicts were transported to Van Diemen'southward Land, or about twoscore percentage of all convicts sent to Commonwealth of australia.

Convicts completing their sentences or earning their tickets-of-leave often promptly left Van Diemen's Land to settle in the new complimentary colony of Victoria. Tensions often ran high between the free settlers and the "Vandemonians" as they were termed, particularly during the Victorian Gold Rush when a flood of settlers from Van Diemen'south Country rushed to the Victorian gilt fields. Complaints from Victorians virtually recently released convicts from Van Diemen'due south Country re-offending in Victoria was one of the contributing reasons for the eventual abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's State in 1853.

In order to remove the unsavory connotations with crime associated with its name, in 1856 Van Diemen's Land was renamed Tasmania in honor of Abel Tasman. The concluding penal settlement in Tasmania at Port Arthur finally closed in 1877.

India

The British Empire too established diverse penal colonies in colonial Bharat. 2 of the most infamous were located on the Andaman Islands, comprised of multiple settlements, and at Hijli.

Andaman Islands

Prisoners in the Andaman Islands (late 1890s)

British accounts of the Andaman Islands ofttimes leave the impression that the island settlements were models of progressive penal reform and were focused predominately around subcontract labor. Though few supervisors were appointed, total island population numbered more 10,000. The education of school-aged children of prisoners was compulsory, and all convicts were given free medical attention at i of the four island hospitals. The settlement boasted a safe harbor and high success charge per unit, turning long-sentence convicts into self-respecting men and women.

Indian accounts, withal, paint a contrasting picture. From the fourth dimension of its development in 1858, the settlement was first and foremost a repository for political prisoners. The Cellular Jail at Port Blair included 698 cells designed for solitary confinement. The Viper Chain Gang Jail on Viper Island was reserved for the worst of criminals and was also the site of prisoner hangings. In the twentieth century, information technology became a convenient place to firm prominent members of India's independence movement, and it was here that on Dec 30, 1943, during Japanese occupation that the first flag of Indian independence was raised.

At the close of the 2d World War, the British government announced its intention to abolish the penal settlement and proposed the employment of former inmates in an initiative to develop the island'south fisheries, timber, and agronomical resource. In exchange, inmates would be granted return passage to the Indian mainland, or the right to settle on the islands. The penal colony was somewhen closed on Baronial 15, 1947, when Bharat gained its independence. It has since served as a museum to the independence movement.

Hijli

The administrative edifice of Hijli Detention Camp (September 1951)

Hijli Detention Camp, located in the district of Midnapore Due west Bengal, was significant in the struggle confronting the British Raj in the early twentieth century. Because the big numbers of Indian nationalists who participated in the armed struggle against the early British occupation could not be accommodated in ordinary jails, the British Government decided to found a organization of detention camps.

The commencement, located in Buxa Fort was quickly followed by the 1930 creation of the Hijli Detention Camp. A meaning moment in the struggle against British dominion occurred at the Hijli Detention Camp on September 16, 1931, when two unarmed detainees were shot dead past the British Police force. National leaders were enraged and voiced stiff protests against the British Raj over this incident. The Hijli Detention Army camp was closed in 1937, only reopened once again in 1940. Two years later the army camp was officially closed and all detainees were transferred elsewhere.

In May 1950, the first Indian Institute of Technology was housed at the original site of the detention camp. In 1990, onetime buildings were converted to house the Nehru Museum of Science and Technology.

French republic

The French Empire as well sent criminals to tropical penal settlements. Devil's Island in French Guiana, lasting 1852-1939, received forgers and other criminals. New Caledonia in South Bounding main Melanesia received dissident rebels as well as convicted criminals.

Devil's Isle

Devil's Island is the smallest of three islands located off the coast of French Guiana and held a notorious French penal colony until 1946. The penitentiary atop the rocky, palm-covered island was first opened past Emperor Napoleon Iii of French republic in 1852 and apace became one of the most infamous prisons in history. In add-on to the prison house on the island, prison facilities were located on the French mainland at Kourou.

Used by French republic from 1852 to 1946, the inmates ranged from political prisoners to the virtually hardened of thieves and murderers. Many of the 80,000 prisoners that faced the harsh weather condition at the disease-infested isle were never seen again. Escape options, other than by ocean, included travel through a dense jungle, and very few convicts managed to escape. A limited number of convicted women were likewise sent to French Guiana, with instructions to marry the freed male person inmates. However the results of this thought were poor and the government ceased the practice in 1907.

The horrors of the penal settlement became notorious in 1895 with the publicity surrounding the feel of French army captain Alfred Dreyfus who had been wrongfully convicted of treason and was sent to Devil's Isle.

In 1938, the French regime stopped sending prisoners to Devil'due south Island, and in 1952 the prison house closed permanently. Virtually of the prisoners returned to mainland France, though some chose to remain in French Guiana.

Several movies, songs, a phase play, likewise as a number of books have featured Devil'south Isle. The most famous is a 1970 best-selling book, also made into a popular flick, entitled Papillon past former Devil's Island captive Henri Charriere, which tells of his numerous alleged escape attempts.

New Caledonia

The island of New Caledonia was made a French possession in 1853, in an attempt by Napoleon Three to rival the British colonies in Commonwealth of australia and New Zealand. Betwixt 1854 and 1922 France sent a total of 22,000 convicted felons to penal colonies forth the south-due west coast of the island; this number includes regular criminals as well as political prisoners such every bit Parisian socialists and Kabyle nationalists. Towards the finish of the penal colony era, free European settlers (including former convicts) and Asian contract workers past far out-numbered the population of forced workers. The indigenous Kanak populations declined drastically in that aforementioned period due to introduced diseases and an apartheid-like system called Code de fifty'Indigénat, which imposed astringent restrictions on their livelihood, freedom of motility, and land ownership.

Russia

Both Royal Russia and the Soviet Union used Siberia as a penal colony for criminals and public dissidents. Though geographically contiguous with mainland Russia, Siberia provided both remoteness and a harsh climate for the worst of society's prisoners. Penal systems like the Gulag and its tsarist predecessor, the katorga, provided penal labor to develop forestry, logging, and mining industries, structure enterprises, and highway and railroad structure beyond Siberia.

Katorga

The katorga was a seventeenth century system of penal servitude of the prison subcontract type used in Purple Russia. Prisoners were sent to remote camps in vast uninhabited areas of Siberia, where volunteer laborers were unavailable, and forced to perform hard transmission labor. Unlike concentration camps, a katorga was within the normal judicial system of Imperial Russia, though both share the aforementioned main features of confinement, simplified facilities, and forced labor usually involving hard, unskilled, or semi-skilled work. The most common occupations in katorga camps were mining and timber works.

Russian prisoners at an Amur Cart Road camp, betwixt 1908 and 1913

Katorgas were established in the seventeenth century in under populated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Nonetheless, a few prisoners successfully escaped dorsum to populated areas. Since the seventeenth century, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment, which was further enhanced past the Soviet Union's Gulag system that developed afterwards the Russian Revolution of 1917.

After a modify in Russian penal law in 1847, exile and katorga became common penalties to the participants of national uprisings within the Russian Empire. This led to an increasing number of Shine people beingness sent to Siberia to perform labor under katorga systems. They were known as "Sybiraks," some of them remaining there after their sentences to form a Polish minority in Siberia.

Anton Chekhov, the famous Russian writer and playwright, visited the katorga settlements of Russian federation'south Far East Sakhalin isle in 1891. Writing about the conditions, he criticized the shortsightedness and incompetence of the officials in charge that allowed for conditions of poor living standards, waste of regime funds, and low productivity. After the Russian Revolution, Russia's penal system was taken over by the Bolsheviks, eventually transforming them into Gulag labor camps.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Belbenoit, René. Hell on Trial. Translated from the Original French Manuscript by Preston Rambo. E. P Dutton & Co. Reprint by Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1941.
Belbenoit, René. 1938. Dry guillotine: Fifteen years amidst the living dead. Reprint: Berkley, 1975. ISBN 0425029506
Charrière, Henri. Papillon. Perennial, 2001. ISBN 978-0060934798
Kropotkin, P. In Russian and French Prisons. London: Ward and Downey, 1887.

External Links

All links retrieved June 24, 2020.

In Russian and French Prisons by P.Kropotkin.
The Labor of Doing Time by Julie Browne.