Fourteen kilometers off the coast of French Guiana, the Îles du Salut, or "Isles of Salvation," conceal a dark chapter of French colonial history. Once a penal colony known as the "dry guillotine," it became a place where convicts faced near-certain death through harsh conditions rather than direct execution. Nearly 70,000 men were sent to the archipelago between 1852 and 1953, and more than half of them perished due to the tropical climate, diseases, and brutal forced labor. Though officially abolished in 1938, the system continued in practice until the last convicts were repatriated in 1953. Today, remnants of the penal colony, particularly on Royale Island, can be visited from the nearby city of Kourou. The penal colony was established during the reign of Napoleon III, who sought to relieve overcrowded prisons in France while also populating its overseas territories. By decree in 1852, the Îles du Salut—surrounded by dangerous sea currents and sharks—became the site of the first penal camp. The first transport of 298 convicts arrived in March 1852, and by the end of the year, the population had already surpassed 1,000. The system was designed so that convicts with sentences under eight years would serve their time in Guiana, while those with longer sentences were assigned there permanently. This policy aimed to encourage the settlement of the colony through forced labor. The equatorial climate, tropical diseases, malnutrition, and grueling work in the dense jungle turned the penal colony into a place of extreme suffering. Of the 70,000 convicts sent over the course of a century, nearly 60% died in Guiana. For many, the punishment was effectively a slow death, inflicted by malaria, yellow fever, or sheer exhaustion. Political pressure did not emerge until the Popular Front era, and it was French politician Gaston Monnerville who pushed for the official abolition of the colony in 1938. However, the end of the system was gradual. Convicts already in the colony remained until their sentences ended, and the Vichy regime during World War II led to a new wave of deaths, with a 48% mortality rate among convicts over three years. The situation improved slightly after 1943, when American forces arrived and used the remaining penal labor to build the Rochambeau airport. Among the many who passed through the Îles du Salut, Captain Alfred Dreyfus stands out. Wrongly convicted of treason in the infamous Dreyfus Affair, he was imprisoned on Devil's Island, the most isolated and feared part of the archipelago. His imprisonment under extreme conditions became a symbol of injustice and remains one of the most well-known stories associated with the penal colony. Other figures and tales—of daring escapes and survival—have contributed to the island’s reputation as a place of both brutality and legend. These stories have transformed the Îles du Salut into a near-mythical site, where every stone seems to carry the weight of past suffering. The last convicts were repatriated in 1953, marking the end of the penal colony’s administrative existence. Between 1946 and 1953, over 3,000 men left the islands, many never expecting to return. Since then, the abandoned structures on the Îles du Salut have deteriorated due to the harsh tropical environment and human activity. However, traces of the past remain. Royale Island, the most symbolic of the three islands, still holds recognizable buildings such as cells, a hospital, a cemetery, and the former director's house. Today, these silent ruins attract tourists from Kourou, who come to explore a lesser-known but significant part of French colonial history.