French Guiana: Woman searches for history of penal colony relative

Laetitia Riotte, traveling from Calvados, France, is conducting a personal historical search in French Guiana to honor her great-uncle, Louis Grilly. Grilly was a painter who was sentenced to forced labor and relocation in 1921 following convictions for larceny and attempted arson. He arrived in Guiana in early 1922.

Despite her efforts to establish a scientifically accurate identity for him, Riotte has faced difficulties locating his final resting place in Cayenne, as his remains were moved after his death in 1961. She also seeks to correct misinformation regarding his death date, which is incorrectly cited in some museums and online sources as 1970.

Historical records from the Archives nationales d'Outre-mer indicate that approximately 70,000 people were deported to French Guiana since the penal colony's establishment in 1852. This included 52,000 individuals sentenced to forced labor and 16,000 repeat offenders. Although the institution officially closed in 1946, the final survivors did not return to mainland France until 1953.