Dry Guillotine-the memoirs of Devil's Island by Rene Belbenoit, written about his time there in the 1920's before his escape to America, with a bit of help from the British authorities in Trinidad. (The British were in the habit of allowing escapees from French Guiana a short stay, supplies, and a re-outfitting of their boat, or a different boat in which to continue their escape. Fair play, and all that.) His memoir was published many years before Papillion, by Henri Charrier. Renee Belbenoit also was an adviser on the movie Passage to Marseilles.