The penal colony of New Caledonia was a penitentiary establishment which was in operation from to Many French prisoners from mainland France approximately 21, were deported there.
Divided into three categories, these convicts could hope to be released without obtaining a return to mainland France. Supervision was carried out by a large prison staff, up to people, assisted by the native police.
The penal colony was transformed, in fact, into a subcontracting company of labor to administrations public worksites , then to private companies SLN, etc. The rental income after a loan phase was allocated to the general budget, one third of which was collected by the Public Treasury, in the event of profits. The number of criminals present in New Caledonia rose to 11, in , i. After hard labor, the convicts had to "double" their sentence by being placed in penitentiary farms and, once released, obtain land in penal concession.
To do this, the prison administration acquired a large land estate, largely taken from indigenous lands, which at its peak reached , hectares. In all, the concessions definitively awarded to those released are estimated at around 1, The insurgents of the Kabyle revolt of were also sent to the Isle of Pines.
While the Communards were granted an amnesty in , most of the Algerians in the Pacific ended their lives in New Caledonia. The Directorate of the colonies needing women to colonize the island, the penitentiary authority toured the central metropolitan prisons to encourage volunteers to go to New Caledonia.
