Algeria: On the Margins of French Punitive Space?

In France in the nineteenth century, being sent to the colonies was considered a form of punishment. People were sent there following various measures, covering different legal forms and applied with variable degrees of consistency. Some of these measures were implemented on very rare occasions, whereas others were used on a massive scale over very long periods of time. Thus, there were legal punishments ordered by the courts, following an investigation or trial: deportation, a political punishment used in particular against the insurgents of the Paris Commune in 1871; or hard labour, with convicts sent to penal colonies. There were also measures implemented by the administration or political powers: "transportation," a measure created for insurgents of June 1848; or internment, aimed at opponents to the 1851 coup d'état. Lastly, "relegation" (or exile) was a punishment created in 1885 for repeat offenders. i Algeria held a marginal place in this punitive system because it did not need penal colonisation to become a settlement colony. It was conquered and colonised in the period 830-80, when Europe was a land of emigration. Its proximity with Europe also gave it an advantage over other potential destinations for migrants, especially Spaniards and Italians. The men and women sent to the colonies for various penal reasons were sent to New Caledonia and French Guiana-it is estimated that 100,000 people were sent to penal colonies between 1852 and 1938.i