Les Damnés de la terre

Off the coast of Madagascar, the Nosy-Lava Island prison built in 1911 still functions as a prison from the past. The model system from the French colonial period has been continued by the Madagascan state despite the fact that independence came in 1960. It is in this prison that the last inmates, some of whom were sentenced by the French authorities in 1960, live out their lives totally forgotten and with no hope for the future. The repressive system at Nosy-Lava means they are kept there as imprisoned convicts yet in a state of semi-freedom. All their efforts go to finding a job that will enable them to eat to their fill, as the authorities do not supply them with food. Some are fed and helped by the island’s inhabitants, who have accepted them as part of the community. Some of the convicts have even completed their prison sentence long ago.