Drug lords will be sent to 'super-max' jungle prison in the Amazon as France looks to turnaround the 'Mexicanization' of its streets by violent gangs
France is set to build a £337million American-style 'super-max' prison in the heart of the Amazon rainforest that will house drug lords and Islamist terrorists.
The massive 40,700 square meter complex will be build in Saint Laurent du Maroni, in the jungles of French Guiana, said hardline justice minister Gérald Darmanin on Sunday, who visited the region to make the announcement, amid growing fervour against the so-called 'Mexicanization' of France at the hands of violent drugs gangs.
Darmanin told a local outlet that no quarter would be given to those imprisoned at the jail.
'The prison regime will be extremely strict, with one aim: to put the most dangerous narcotraffickers in a place where they can do no harm', he said.
The Saint Laurent du Maroni prison will hold up to 500 prisoners, and will have specialised high-security wings specifically for drug barons and Islamist extremists who posed too high a national security risk to be kept in general population.
Justice ministry officials added that 15 places would be reserved for convicted Islamist radicals. The prison is due to open in 2028.
Darmanin said: 'The drug gang bosses will no longer be able to have any contact with their criminal networks.
'My strategy is simple, hit organised crime at all levels.'
In February, drug gangs in France carried coordinated machine-gun and arson attacks on seven prisons in response to the country's harsh new crackdown on the trafficking of illegal substances.
Prisons in Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, Valence and Nîmes in southern France, and in Villepinte and Nanterre, near Paris, were hit by simultaneous attacks.
Police vehicle were set alight at several locations, while at La Farlede prison gunmen opened fired on the prison gate with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Bullet holes were at the prison's entrance, while shattered glass was seen still in their frames.
French police unions called for increased protection for prison staff.
The country's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into these attacks to see exactly who was responsible.
Darmanin said at the time that 'significant means' would be deployed to investigate the spate of attacks, and that the perpetrators would be given 'extremely severe sentences.'
'I am delighted that the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has taken action because this is extremely serious. These are terrorist attacks', he added.
'Clearly people are trying to destabilise the state by intimidating it,' he told the CNews/Europe 1 broadcaster.
'They are doing it because we are taking measures against the permissiveness that existed until now in jails,' he said.
Anarchist symbols were seen at some sites while the letters 'DDPF', meaning 'French prisoners' rights', were seen at others.
Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau have in recent months vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime.
On May 17, 2025, Justice minister announced that a 500-place high-security prison would be opened by 2028 in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, in the heart of the Guiana jungle, to house prisoners serving the longest sentences for drug trafficking as well as radicalised inmates
Darmanin said he was seeking to crack down on 'drug networks that continue to operate from prison cells.
'They order killings, launder money. They threaten police officers, judges, prison guards, and they escape,' he said.
The justice minister has so far proposed several measures to tighten prison security, including setting up dedicated high-security jails for drug lords to isolate them from their gangs.
France's parliament is currently passing a law that would great a special prosecutor's office to deal with drugs crimes, which would be equipped with new investigative powers.
In November, Retailleau warned that the country was at a 'tipping point ' when it came to drug trafficking violence, following a massive shootout in the western city of Poitiers.
'These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this part of western France once known for its tranquility', he starkly said.
'We are at a tipping point and the choice we have today is a choice between general mobilisation or the Mexicanisation of the country,' he said, citing Mexico's deep problem with cartel violence.
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