The Bagne de Cayenne, also known as the Cayenne Penal Colony, was a notorious prison system located in French Guiana that operated from 1852 to 1953. The prison system was established by the French government as a way to exile convicts and political prisoners to a distant location where they could be forced to perform hard labor in harsh conditions.
French Guiana is a department of France located on the northern coast of South America, bordering Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Its capital city is Cayenne. French Guiana covers an area of approximately 83,534 square kilometers (32,253 square miles) and has a population of around 300,000 people. The official language is French and the currency is the Euro.
