It is also the title of several articles by various authors and most notably, a very influential and successful book by former prisoner #46,635, René Belbenoît.
[1] The best known work by this name is René Belbenoît's memoir, Dry Guillotine, Fifteen Years Among The Living Dead (1938) (also known as I Escaped From Devil's Island[2]).
Dry Guillotine chronicles Belbenoît's childhood, his commission of two non-violent and relatively minor thefts from employers, and his subsequent capture, conviction, and transportation to French Guiana.
[3] Belbenoît actually wrote the manuscript for Dry Guillotine while in prison and carried the work wrapped in oilskins, to protect it from the elements.
Protected in this manner, the manuscript survived countless rainstorms and unexpected dunkings in the ocean and rivers between Cayenne and California, where Belbenoît finally managed to reach the United States and freedom in 1937.