Overview
- Justice officials named Valence, Aix-en-Provence and Réau for new units in the coming months, with a fourth planned at the future Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni prison in French Guiana.
- The ministry cites an initial goal of housing roughly 500 of about 700 inmates deemed very dangerous in these quarters within months, according to Gérald Darmanin on M6.
- The Guyana timetable varies by source, with the Chancellerie indicating end-2026 to early-2027 and other reporting pointing to end-2027 to early-2028 as construction proceeds.
- The regime was created by the April anti-narcotrafficking law and validated by the Constitutional Council in June; the Conseil d'État is weighing a challenge to the implementing decree after its rapporteur urged rejection.
- Operational context includes one unit already running at Vendin-le-Vieil and Condé-sur-Sarthe due to start receiving inmates within weeks, alongside protests and legal complaints over detention conditions.