Henri Charrière

Henri Charrière was convicted of murder in France in 1931, a crime he never admitted to, though he acknowledged earlier petty offenses including procuring. He was sent to a penal colony in French Guiana, where he served fourteen years before escaping. In 1969 he published Papillon, a memoir presenting his incarceration and escape as largely autobiographical. The book became an international bestseller, but modern researchers concluded that much of its dramatic material came from fellow inmates' experiences rather than Charrière's own. The French courts pardoned him in 1970. He died in 1973.