Overview

• French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced the finalized plan for a high-security prison in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana, pending construction permits.
• The €400 million facility will house 500 inmates, including a 60-place supermax unit for drug lords and jihadists, aiming to sever their external criminal networks.
• Modeled on Italian and U.S. supermax prisons, the project is part of France's broader strategy to tighten detention conditions for high-level criminals.
• Local unions and politicians, including Senator Marie-Laure Phinera-Horth, have criticized the plan, citing colonial-era penal history and regional autonomy concerns.
• If completed, the prison would be France's third high-security facility and the largest overseas investment in its penitentiary system.