By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS (Worthy News) – France plans to move Islamic militants and drug traffickers to a maximum-security prison it is building near a former penal colony in French Guiana despite an outcry among local people and officials.
The wing would form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017 that is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.
The prison would be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by French leader Napoleon III in the 1800s.
Some of them were then sent to the nearby notorious Devil’s Island penal colony off the coast of French Guiana.
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced the plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana over the weekend.
He said on social media that 15 of the wing’s 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic militants.
“We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,” he told reporters in French Guiana. “We must react.”
NEW PRISON
French media quoted officials as saying that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be prioritized for the new prison.
Darmanin has made the fight against drug trafficking one of his highest priorities. By this summer, he wants to isolate his country’s top 100 drug traffickers from their criminal networks.
He has similar plans for Islamic militants, following several deadly terror attacks in France.
Darmanin also said the new jail would help ease prison overcrowding in French Guiana, as well as respond to the growing threat of drug trafficking in the territory.
French Guiana is a significant transit point for South American cocaine on its way to markets in Europe, he said.
Clashes between rival organized criminal groups mean the territory has a homicide rate of 18.4 per 100,000 people, compared with 1.2 per 100,000 in mainland France, according to estimates.
Yet the announcement angered many across French Guiana, an overseas French department in South America.
INFAMOUS COLONY
It was once an infamous colony known for holding French political prisoners, including Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused of being a spy.
Dreyfus was incarcerated on Devil’s Island, a penal colony that operated for a century and was featured in the best-selling French novel “Papillon,” which later was made into two movies.
Jean-Paul Fereira, president of French Guiana’s territorial collective, an assembly of 51 lawmakers overseeing local government affairs, said the announcement took them aback.
He complained that the plan for the high-security prison had never been discussed with them beforehand.
“It is therefore with astonishment and indignation that the elected members of the Collectivity discovered, together with the entire population of Guiana, the information detailed in Le Journal Du Dimanche,” he wrote in a statement posted Sunday on social media.
Fereira said the move was disrespectful and insulting, noting that the agreement French Guiana signed in 2017 was for constructing a new prison meant to alleviate overpopulation at the central jail.
“While all local elected officials have long been calling for strong measures to curb the rise of organized crime in our territory, Guiana is not meant to welcome criminals and radicalized people from (mainland France),” he wrote.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A government ban on major social media platforms that enraged young Nepalis has spiraled into the country’s deadliest political violence in decades, with authorities saying Sunday that at least 72 people have been killed and hundreds more injured during protests reflecting years of frustration over corruption, inequality, and “curbs on freedoms.”
Throughout the Hill Country, crosses, words of Jesus, prayers and messages of hope are written on memorials honoring nearly 150 killed from the catastrophic July 4 flash flood.
The NATO military alliance has begun rolling out its defensive posture on its eastern flank bordering Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. NATO leaders said the new equipment is aimed at deterring potential Russian aggression after at least 19 Russian drones entered Polish territory and Romania also reported a violation of its airspace.
Israel’s surprise strike on Hamas political leaders in Qatar showcased its growing arsenal of advanced ballistic missiles and its ability to deploy them at long range with precision, according to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal.
More than 100,000 people packed into central London on Saturday for what organizers billed as the largest free speech rally in British history. The “Unite the Kingdom” march, spearheaded by activist Tommy Robinson, featured a live video appearance by billionaire Elon Musk and a tribute to slain U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Christians in Pakistan’s flood-hit Punjab province were among those struggling to survive Thursday, while in Indonesia, at least 19 people were confirmed dead after flash floods struck the tourist island of Bali and other regions as deadly monsoon waters swept across parts of South Asia.
Much of the world is mourning after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the born-again Christian conservative leader, who inspired his generation and whose widow praised him as a loving husband with a deep faith in Jesus Christ.