Overview

• Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has confirmed plans for a third high-security prison in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana, with a €400 million budget.
• The facility will house 60 inmates under an ultra-strict regime, including 15 places reserved for convicted Islamist radicals.
• The prison’s remote Amazon jungle location is designed to sever communication between drug kingpins and their criminal networks.
• This initiative is part of a broader strategy to combat organized crime from trafficking routes in Guiana to network leaders in mainland France.
• French Guiana, a key transit point for cocaine trafficking and the most crime-ridden French department, has been strategically chosen for this project.