18 Remote Islands That Became Prison Colonies
Islands often conjure images of seclusion, natural beauty, and escape from the world. Yet throughout history, that same isolation made them perfect for something far darker: confinement.
Scattered across oceans and seas, these remote places became the last stop for convicts, rebels, and the politically inconvenient. Escape wasn’t just difficult, it was nearly impossible. Whether used by empires or authoritarian regimes, these island prisons held stories of punishment, control, and survival.
Some were infamous for cruelty, others were largely forgotten. Either way, they weren’t built to be left behind easily.
Devil’s Island – French Guiana
Tucked off South America’s northeastern coast, Devil’s Island served as France’s most feared penal colony from 1852 to 1953. The climate was sweltering, disease ran rampant, and the surrounding shark-infested waters made escape nearly suicidal.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, wrongfully convicted, spent five years there, isolated, yet not entirely alone in his misery.
Alcatraz Island – United States
Floating in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz held America’s most notorious criminals. From 1934 to 1963, it became a fortress of steel and silence, home to Al Capone, “Machine Gun” Kelly, and others deemed too dangerous for regular lockup.
Close to the city, yes, but strong tides and cold waters kept inmates firmly locked in.
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Robben Island – South Africa
Off the coast of Cape Town, Robben Island functioned as a political prison under apartheid. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 incarcerated years here, alongside others who opposed the regime.
Though just a few miles from the mainland, it might as well have been another world, one defined by limestone dust, harsh labor, and the relentless weight of injustice.
Norfolk Island – Australia
Used by the British from 1788 to 1855, Norfolk Island became a dumping ground for repeat offenders, those already punished once, now punished again. Brutality wasn’t just common, it was systemic. Reports of torture, starvation, and suicide weren’t exaggerations.
Some prisoners begged for execution, finding death preferable to another day on the island.
Van Diemen’s Land – Tasmania
Now known as Tasmania, Van Diemen’s Land was one of the British Empire’s most heavily used penal colonies. Between 1803 and 1853, tens of thousands of convicts were sent here, often for petty crimes. Port Arthur, in particular, enforced near-total silence.
The system broke men’s minds long before it did in body.
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Rottnest Island – Australia
While today’s visitors enjoy beaches and quokkas, Rottnest’s past is much grimmer. From 1838 to 1931, the island was used to imprison Aboriginal men and boys, many of whom died in its overcrowded cells.
It was less a prison than a tool of colonial control, quietly hidden in plain sight.
Spike Island – Ireland
Dubbed “Ireland’s Alcatraz,” Spike Island shifted roles over centuries, from monastery, fort, and finally to prison. During the 19th century, it housed thousands of inmates under brutal conditions.
At its peak, over 2,300 people were confined there, crammed into damp, disease-ridden spaces with little daylight and even less hope.
Solovetsky Islands – Russia
Way up in the White Sea, these frigid islands became one of the Soviet Union’s earliest forced labor camps. In the 1920s, political prisoners were sent to “re-education”, often through starvation and backbreaking labor.
Temperatures plunged, spirits broke, and survival meant obeying or disappearing.
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Goli Otok – Yugoslavia
The name means “Barren Island”, and it delivered on the promise. From 1949 to 1989, this Adriatic prison housed enemies of Tito’s regime. The island didn’t just punish physically, it aimed to destroy prisoners psychologically.
Forced confessions, ritual humiliation, and ideological “self-criticism” became daily routines.
Château d’If – France
Off the coast of Marseille sits this ominous stone fortress, famous thanks to The Count of Monte Cristo, yet its real history is equally grim. From the 1580s to the late 1800s, it served as a prison for religious dissenters, political rebels, and the occasional noble turned liability.
Dark, damp cells carved into cold rock didn’t leave much to the imagination.
Île du Diable – French Guiana
Part of the same penal complex as Devil’s Island, Île du Diable held many political exiles. Surrounded by raging seas and dense jungle, escape was less an ambition and more a fantasy.
The isolation wasn’t just physical, it was designed to erase people from memory altogether.
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Sarah Island – Tasmania
Before Port Arthur, there was Sarah Island. Between 1822 and 1833, it served as a punishment station for secondary offenders. The location, deep inside Macquarie Harbour, made it nearly impossible to escape.
Hard labor and harsher discipline turned the place into a nightmare carved from timber and stone.
Floreana Island – Galápagos (Ecuador)
Ecuador’s Floreana Island is better known today for its unique wildlife, but it once housed prisoners. From 1832 to 1959, convicts battled isolation, barren terrain, and limited food.
While some scratched out a living, others vanished without a trace, swallowed by nature or madness.
Coiba Island – Panama
Between 1919 and 2004, Coiba functioned as a prison island off Panama’s Pacific coast. Political prisoners and common criminals alike ended up in this tropical cage.
During the military regimes of the 20th century, torture and disappearances weren’t rare, they were expected.
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Dawson Island – Chile
Cold, windswept, and near the bottom of the world, Dawson Island was repurposed by Chile’s Pinochet regime to hold political opponents. From 1973 to 1975, prisoners labored in sub-Antarctic conditions.
Most had committed no crime beyond having the wrong beliefs at the wrong time.
Coconut Island – Hawaii
Also called Moku Ola, this island was once a place of forced medical exile. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Native Hawaiians diagnosed with leprosy were banished here, cut off from family, community, and hope.
It wasn’t punishment in name, but it was punishment in practice.
Governors Island – United States
Though it’s now a public park just off Manhattan, Governors Island held military prisoners during the Civil War. Union deserters and Confederate POWs passed through its barracks.
Its use as a prison didn’t last long, yet it remains a curious footnote in American penal history.
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Liberty Island – United States
Before the Statue of Liberty stood tall, this little island served as a holding area for British prisoners during the War of 1812. Its stint as a prison was brief, more logistical than punitive, but it reminds us that even symbols of freedom often have darker pasts beneath their foundations.
Forgotten, But Not Gone
While tourists now visit many of these islands, snapping photos and enjoying the views, their history sits just below the surface. These weren’t just prisons, they were tools of political suppression, racial control, and social engineering.
Some inmates were criminals; others were merely inconvenient. Either way, these islands trapped them, isolated them, and, in many cases, erased them.
Even surrounded by the ocean, there was no real freedom.
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