France Confirms €400M High-Security Prison in French Guiana Despite Local Backlash
- France confirmed plans to build a €400 million high-security prison in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana, announced by Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin on Sunday.
- The project responds to prison overcrowding and rising drug trafficking threats in French Guiana, a major cocaine transit point bordering Suriname and Brazil.
- The new facility near the historic Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana is designed to accommodate up to 500 prisoners, with 60 of them held in high-security conditions, including individuals such as drug lords and radical Islamists.
- Darmanin said the prison aims to end dangerous criminals' influence by severing their contact with networks, adding the complex will feature a strict regime and an onsite court.
- The prison could open by 2028 and reflects France's effort to provide overseas territories the same security level as mainland, amid local concerns recalling the penal colony's harsh history.
121 Articles
121 Articles
France Copies Trump, Builds ‘Supermax’ Prison Overseas – American Liberty News
In a surprising move certain to please President Trump and his MAGA supporters, France plans to build a maximum-security prison for drug traffickers and radical Islamists in its overseas territory of French Guiana. While American and foreign critics have bashed Trump’s effort to send deported illegal alien criminals to foreign countries such as El Salvador, to […]
The interim president of the French Guiana Territorial Collective, Jean-Paul Fereira, rejected the French government’s announcement that it plans to build a high security prison in the territory of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni for 500 inmates, on the grounds that it intends to fight drug traffickers and Islamist prisoners. READ ALSO: France, Canada and the United Kingdom warn Israel that they will implement sanctions if it does not cease offensive in…
France revives Devil’s Island legacy with supermax Islamist jail
France's plan to build a high-security prison in its South American territory of French Guiana, specifically to house drug traffickers and individuals convicted of terrorism-related offences, has triggered a wave of condemnation from local officials and residents, who accuse Paris of reviving colonial-era practices by using the territory as a penal dumping ground. The 500-capacity facility, first announced in 2017 and now scheduled for completio…
France's prisons are chronically overcrowded. A new prison in the jungle of French Guiana could at least partially remedy the situation, but the location has a dark past.


Paris is planning a special prison for drug bosses and jihadists in the former penal colony in French Guiana. Left opposition is targeting a "French Guantánamo"
France To Open High-Security Prison In Amazon Jungle
France plans to build a maximum-security prison for drug traffickers and radical Islamists in its overseas territory of French Guiana, sparking an outcry among local officials. In the remote town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a new chapter in France’s penal history is being written. A high-security wing, part of a $450 million prison complex expected to open by 2028, will house 45 high-level drug criminals and 15 terrorists. The prison will hold 5…
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