France is to build a high-security prison in the South American jungle for its most "dangerous" criminals.
Gerald Darmanin, the country's justice minister, announced the facility will open in 2028 in Saint-Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana, an overseas territory situated north of Brazil.
Darmanin told the Journal du Dimanche during a trip to the region: "I have decided to establish France's third high-security prison in Guiana."
The new prison will have 60 places and operate under "an extremely strict prison regime" with the goal of removing "the most dangerous profiles involved in drug trafficking," according to the minister.
Gerald Darmanin, the country's hardline justice minister, announced the facility will open in 2028 in Saint-Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana, an overseas territory situated north of Brazil
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Darmanin said: "My strategy is simple hit organised crime at all levels here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route and in mainland France, by neutralising the network leaders, and all the way to consumers."
He added: "This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narco-trafficking."
The prison's location is strategically important.
It "will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks" since "they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks," according to justice ministry officials.
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France's Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin visits the Remire-Montjoly prison as part of his official trip to the French South American department of French Guiana
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Saint-Laurent du Maroni is a strategic hub for so-called drug mules, mainly from Brazil, who attempt to board flights to Paris carrying cocaine originating in neighbouring Suriname.
The location has historical significance as it was once home to France's notorious Transportation Camp, a brutal penal colony that operated from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.
The structure remains largely intact.
Guiana is the most crime-ridden French department relative to the size of its population.
An entrance of the Remire-Montjoly prison on the sidelines of France' Justice minister official trip in French Guiana
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It has a record of 20.6 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, nearly 14 times the national average.
Justice ministry officials have indicated that 15 places at the prison would be reserved for convicted Islamist radicals.
Darmanin had previously stated in January that he wanted to isolate "the 100 biggest drug traffickers" in a dedicated facility designed to stop them from pursuing their illegal business from their prison cells.
