
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory.
Full Answer
What is a penal colony?
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory.
What was the purpose of the Australian penal colony?
Inscribed stone honouring an Irish prisoner in the Australian penal colony of Botany Bay. A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory.
What was the purpose of penal settlements?
Some Penal settlements were places of incarceration and punishment for convicts who committed serious offences after reaching New South Wales. 'most severe "secondary" punishment (short of execution) to be inflicted on convicts'. ( Australian Encyclopaedia, 4 th ed., vol. 3, p.49).
What are some examples of penal colonies in the Caribbean?
The tiny island of Cabrera was also a short-lived penal colony in which approximately 7.000 French prisoners of war from the Battle of Bailén (1808) were left on their own for years; less than half of them survived. Taiwan had a penal colony at Green Island during Chiang Kai Shek's White Terror of 1949–1987.

What was the purpose of a penal colony?
penal colony, distant or overseas settlement established for punishing criminals by forced labour and isolation from society.
What is meant by penal colony?
Definition of penal colony : a place where prisoners are sent to live.
Why is it called a penal colony?
The term 'penal colony' historically refers to a place used to exile prisoners and use them for labour in a remote location such as an island or a territory overseas. These were mainly developed by English and French empires.
What colony was a penal colony?
The British Empire used North America as a penal colony through a system of indentured service; North America's province of Georgia was originally established for such purposes. British convicts would be transported by private sector merchants and auctioned off to plantation owners upon arrival in the colonies.
What are the 7 penal colonies?
The Bureau shall carry out its functions through its divisions and its seven (7) Penal institutions namely—New Bilibid Prisons, Correctional Institution for Women, Iwahig, Davao, San Ramon and Sablayan Prisons and Penal Farms and the Leyte Regional Prisons.
What is another word for penal colony?
What is another word for penal colony?concentration campgulagpenitentiaryprisonstockadegaolUKjailUSlockupslammerdeath camp58 more rows
Does Russia still have penal colonies?
The corrective colony is the most common, with 705 institutions (excluding 7 corrective colonies for convicts imprisoned for life) in 2019 across the administrative divisions of Russia. There were also 8 prisons, 23 juvenile facilities, and 211 pre-trial facilities in 2019.
What do you mean by penal?
Definition of penal 1 : of, relating to, or involving punishment, penalties, or punitive institutions. 2 : liable to punishment a penal offense. 3 : used as a place of confinement and punishment a penal colony.
Where was the first penal colony?
AustraliaSeeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony, and in 1787, the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney, New South Wales, the first European settlement on the continent ...
What is a penal colony in Russia?
A corrective colony (Russian: исправительная колония (ИК), romanized: ispravitelnaya koloniya) is the most common type of prison in Russia and some post-Soviet states. Such colonies combine penal detention with compulsory work.
What do you mean by penal?
Definition of penal 1 : of, relating to, or involving punishment, penalties, or punitive institutions. 2 : liable to punishment a penal offense. 3 : used as a place of confinement and punishment a penal colony.
What is a penal colony in Russia?
A corrective colony (Russian: исправительная колония (ИК), romanized: ispravitelnaya koloniya) is the most common type of prison in Russia and some post-Soviet states. Such colonies combine penal detention with compulsory work.
What is penal colony?
Penal colony, distant or overseas settlement established for punishing criminals by forced labour and isolation from society. Although a score of nations in Europe and Latin America transported their criminals to widely scattered penal colonies, such colonies were developed mostly by the English, French, and Russians.
Where did England send criminals?
England shipped criminals to America until the American Revolution and to Australia into the middle of the 19th century. France established penal colonies in Africa, New Caledonia, and French Guiana (of which those in the latter, including Devil’s Island, were still operating during World War II).
What is a penal settlement?
Penal settlements were places of incarceration and punishment for convicts who committed serious offences after reaching New South Wales.
What were penal settlements used for in the 1820s?
During the 1820s penal settlements were used as a means of making transportation more of a deterrent. They came under the control of 'military detachments which had no interest in penal discipline and firmly wished themselves elsewhere'. (Hirst, Convict Society, p.92). Governor Darling introduced detailed regulations for their management and tightened up conditions considerably. (Fletcher, Ralph Darling, pp.103-7). This was particularly the case on Norfolk Island, which, under his administration and even more so under Governor Bourke, acquired a reputation for extreme harshness and severity. Women were forbidden to go there and stories of brutality abounded.
When did Macquarie remove the penal settlement?
In 1820, after the discovery of land routes from the Hawkesbury increased the likelihood of convicts escaping and free settlers arriving, Macquarie proposed to remove the penal settlement and open the district to private settlement. ( HRA vol. 10, p.43). It was not until 1823, after Governor Brisbane had arrived, that the convicts were sent to Port Macquarie and Newcastle was proclaimed a free settlement. ( Australian Encyclopaedia, 4 th ed., vol. 3, p.122). Convicts continued to be employed in the mines for some time.
What were the short lived settlements of Melville Island?
The short-lived settlements of Melville Island (Fort Dundas), 1824-1829; Western Port, 1826-1828, and King George's Sound Settlement, 1826-31 were each established for strategic reasons but were reliant on convict labour while in operation. For Moreton Bay, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land see the Guide to Convicts and Convict Administration »
When did the prisoners leave Cockatoo Island?
On 21 October 1869 all the prisoners remaining on Cockatoo Island were removed to the gaol.
When was the settlement of the Northern Territory established?
The settlement was established 18 June 1827 in what is now the Northern Territory and was abandoned in August 1829. It suffered the usual problems of the early northern settlements such as difficulties in supplying provisions, 'unhealthy' climate and disappointing trading opportunities with the Malays. ( HRA Vol 14, pp410-411).
Who was the commandant of the new penal establishment?
In March 1821 Francis Allman was appointed commandant of the new penal establishment. ( HRA vol. 10, p.480). The Governor informed him that the principal object was to 'secure a secondary place of punishment for the worst description of convicts, especially those convicted of crimes after their arrival in the colony'. ( HRA vol. 10, p.480).
How many women were allowed to shower in Colony 14?
Bachmina remembers how shocked she was when she arrived at Colony No 14. About 100 women were housed in a building, and they were only allowed to shower once a week. "Women would draw water from the radiators in order to wash," she says. "You had to watch out so the guards wouldn't catch you." There was but one toilet in the barracks, but it was non-functional so the women were forced to use the outhouse.
Which colony is Svetlana Bakhmina in?
The two penal colonies for women - numbered 13 and 14 - are across the road from one another. Muscovite Svetlana Bakhmina spent two-and-a-half years in Colony No. 14, where Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is currently serving time. Bachmina, who previously worked as a lawyer for Russian oil giant Yukos, was found guilty of embezzlement and tax fraud - as was her ex-boss, billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Who wrote the score for the movie The Penal Colony?
The score of the film was written and performed by Lustmord. In 2000, composer Philip Glass wrote a chamber opera, In the Penal Colony, based on the story. A 24-minute film adaptation by Turkish-born Canadian filmmaker Sibel Guvenc was released in 2006.
When was the book "In der Strafkolonie" published?
Publisher. Kurt Wolff Verlag. Media type. book (hardcover) Publication date. October 1919 . Published in English. 1941. " In the Penal Colony " (" In der Strafkolonie ") (also translated as " In the Penal Settlement ") is a short story by Franz Kafka written in German in October 1914, revised in November 1918, and first published in October 1919.
Where is the story of the last execution set?
The story is set in an unnamed penal colony and describes the last use of an elaborate torture and execution device that carves the sentence of the condemned prisoner on his skin as he slowly dies over the course of twelve hours.

Definition
History of Penal Colonies
- Britain introduced the Transportation Act in 1717, which allowed the relocation of prisoners to the American colonies where they were put up for auction to serve out a seven-year sentence of labor. France also sent its prisoners to colonies in Louisiana at that same time. In the 19th century, Britain started sending prisoners to Australia, sometimes for small crimes, for example, for steal…
Downfall of Penal Colonies
- Many countries that used penal colonies for punishment started to abandon the locations once they started to make a push for humane sentencing with a focus on rehabilitation over punishment, History Hitexplained. Some former penal colonies are now macabre tourist destinations, including Alcatraz, Robben Island in South Africa and Green Islandin Taiwan.
Russian Penal Colonies, Prison System
- The Russian prison system, as of last year, held almost 520,000 inmates, The Associated Press reported. Many of the prisons are collective colonies that evolved from the Soviet gulags where prisoners sleep in dorms and work in production facilities. “You are in a huge room, with 40 or 80 other men. It can become unbearable,” Valery Borschov, a former member of the Russian Parlia…