Islands of exile

Alcatraz may be the most infamous prison island (unless you count Australia… OK, I'm kidding!), but it's hardly the only one. Smithsonian lists ten "islands of exile," some of which were true penal colonies while others were just unfortunate destinations for banished individuals. Included are the likes of Patmos, Greece, Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, and Robben Island, South Africa. From Smithsonian:

Île Sainte-Marguerite, France

Just off the coast of Cannes in the Mediterranean Sea, the small, forested island of Sainte-Marguerite—about two miles long and a half-mile wide—was home to one of history’s most enigmatic prisoners. The convict, whose identity was concealed behind what was most likely a black velvet mask, was brought to the island in 1687, during the reign of Louis XIV, and locked up in the Royal Fort, then a state prison. (His barren cell can still be seen.) Later, he was moved to the Bastille, where he died in 1703 at around age 45.

The prisoner’s identity and the reason for his incarceration are still not known. But over the centuries, they have been the subjects of much speculation. One popular theory, that he was an older brother of Louis XIV, became the basis for Alexander Dumas’ classic tale The Man in the Iron Mask.

"Ten Infamous Islands of Exile"

• [Greg Mackey]

  I think they should have included Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour  on the West Coast of Tasmania, home of dysentery, floggings, scurvy and malnutrition.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macquarie_Harbour_Penal_Station Successful escape attempts involved blokes canabalising their fellow escapees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pearce 

• [giantasterisk]

  If there was a Sado Island today, I would gladly exile myself there.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    If you Google “Sado Island Matt” with SafeSearch off, you’ll get some very NSFW illustrations of the gay BDSM delights awaiting you.

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  No Pandataria?

• [novium]

  I wouldn’t mind a little exile to Patmos. I was there only briefly, but it was a beautiful, beautiful place. And there were tasty crepes. And the smell of orange blossoms. And the sea glittered in the sun.

• [Rodolfo Quesada]

  They are missing San Lucas island in Costa Rica, it was a prison island and now a tourist attraction, kind of Costa Rica’s own Alcatraz. There are archaeologists there digging out the dozens of buried inmates and a famous local book “La Isla de los Hombres Solos” (The Island of the ‘Lonely’? Men) about it

• [deadpanda]

  They’re also missing Sakhalin.  Anton Chekhov documents its horror (along with an interesting aside on the habits of Japanese prostitutes) in the excellent “The Island of Sakhalin.”

• [politeruin]

  Caldey Island, for all your self-imposed exile needs.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldey_Island

• [tudza]

  Isn’t Sado island where the taiko drum group Kodo comes from?

• [sockdoll]

  Ever since I was a kid I thought that Devil’s Island sounded like the worst of them, and the coolest. I remember reading my father’s copy of Papillon back in the early 1970s, and I’ve watched the film twice so far this year.

  • [Preston Sturges]

    That was one of the first “adult” books I read, and the contraband up the butt was sort of startling.

• [Preston Sturges]

  A memorable palindrome is “Able was I ere I saw Elba.”