France plans to build a new maximum security arrest in the Amazon rainforest, near the scene of the famous Criminal Colony of the Island of the Devil, which inspired the 1973 movie “Papillon” starring Steve McQueen.
Speaking on Sunday (18), during a visit to French Guiana, French territory bordering Suriname and Brazil, France Minister Gérald Darmanin, said the installation would house heads of Islamic drug trafficking and radicals.
The arrest will be built in Saint-Laurent-Du-Maroni, at the French Guiana border with Suriname, with a capacity of 500 detainees, including 60 maximum security prisoners.
Speaking to journalists, Darmanin said the new prison would help alleviate prison overcrowding in French Guiana, and respond to the growing threat of drug trafficking in the territory.
French Guiana is an important traffic point for South American cocaine on the way to European markets, he said.
Conflicts between organized gangs mean that the territory has a homicide rate of 18.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 1.2 per 100,000 in continental France, according to the affiliate of the CNN BFMTV.
“Citizens in overseas territories should have the same level of security as those of continental France,” said Darmanin.
According to the minister, high -ranking criminals can use their illicit gains to corrupt authorities, and some manage to continue operating from inside the prison.
There are already 49 high -ranking drug traffickers in custody in French Guiana and other French overseas territories, Darmanin said, adding that these “extremely dangerous” prisoners are not being kept in adequate safety conditions.
The complex, which will also house a court, will cost a total of 400 million euros ($ 451 million), Darmanin said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
For some, the announcement of the planned facility brought back dark memories of the Cayenna Penal Colony, commonly known as the devil’s island, which housed French prisoners until 1953.
The Island of the Devil has become infamous for its inhuman conditions, to the point of giving a 1939 movie starring Boris Karloff, as well as inspiring the novel “Papillon”, which was later transformed into two films.
THE CNN contacted the French Ministry of Justice for comments.
This content was originally published in France plans maximum security prison in the Amazon rainforest; Understand on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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