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France

Penal colony of New Caledonia

Closed 1924Low
Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

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Photograph of Penal colony of New Caledonia

Background

The penal colony of New Caledonia was a penitentiary establishment which was in operation from 1864 to 1924 on the southwest Pacific islands of New Caledonia. Many French prisoners from mainland France (approximately 21,000) were deported there. Divided into three categories, these convicts could hope to be released without obtaining a return to mainland France.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

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Current population

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Occupancy

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Year opened

1864

Closed 1924

Figures from official sources · verified 28 May 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Operator

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Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1864

Region

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Security level

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Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Notable inmates

  • Lucien Henry
    Lucien Henry
    1850–1896 · painter

    Lucien Félix Henry (22 May 1850 - 10 March 1896), was a French painter, who was active in Sydney. A socialist, he was part of the Paris Commune.

  • François Jourde
    François Jourde
    1843–1893 · politician
  • Joannès Caton
    1849–1914 · journalist
  • Louise Michel
    Louise Michel
    1830–1905 · primary school teacher

    Louise Michel (French: [lwiz miʃɛl] ; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905), also known by her nickname of Enjolras, was a French teacher, writer, poet, philosopher, Communard, and anarchist.

  • Charles Lullier
    Charles Lullier
    1838–1891 · communard
  • Henry Louis Champy
    Henry Louis Champy
    1846–1902 · communard
  • Henri Brissac
    Henri Brissac
    1826–1906 · journalist
  • Maxime Lisbonne
    Maxime Lisbonne
    1839–1905 · journalist
  • Paschal Grousset
    Paschal Grousset
    1844–1909 · journalist

    Jean François Paschal Grousset (7 April 1844, in Corte – 9 April 1909, in Paris) was a French politician, journalist, translator and science fiction writer.

Showing 9 of 12. Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

No public contact details available.

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

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Insufficient data
We don't have enough public data on this facility to score it. Have something to add? Send us a correction.

Related facilities

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Data completeness

10%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Penal colony of New Caledonia. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/penal-colony-of-new-caledonia
Chicago
"Penal colony of New Caledonia." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/penal-colony-of-new-caledonia.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-penal-colony-of-new-caledon,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Penal colony of New Caledonia},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/penal-colony-of-new-caledonia},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}