France planning Supermax-style prison near notorious Devil's Island penal colony site
France is planning to build a brand new high-security prison in the Amazon rainforest, near the site of the notorious Devil's Island penal colony that inspired the 1973 movie 'Papillon,' starring Steve McQueen.
Speaking on Sunday during a visit to French Guiana, a French territory that borders Suriname and Brazil, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the facility would house drug kingpins and radical Islamists.
The prison will be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, on French Guiana's border with Suriname, with space for 500 inmates, including 60 maximum-security prisoners.
Speaking to journalists, Darmanin said the new jail would help to ease prison overcrowding in French Guiana, as well as responding to the growing threat of drug trafficking in the territory.
French Guiana is a major transit point for South American cocaine on its way to markets in Europe, he said.
Conflicts between organized criminal gangs mean the territory has a homicide rate of 18.4 per 100,000 people, compared with 1.2 per 100,000 in mainland France, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
'Citizens in overseas territories must be able to have the same level of security as those in mainland France,' Darmanin said.
According to the minister, high-ranking criminals are able to use their illicit earnings to corrupt officials, and some are able to continue to run their operations from inside prison..
There are already 49 high-level 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 adequately secure conditions.
The complex, which will also house a court, will cost a total 400 million euros ($451 million), Darmanin said in a post on Facebook on Sunday.
For some, the announcement of the planned facility brought back chilling memories of the penal colony of Cayenne, commonly known as Devil's Island, which housed French prisoners until 1953.
Devil's Island became infamous for its inhumane conditions, to the extent that it lent its name to a 1939 film starring Boris Karloff, as well as inspiring the novel 'Papillon,' which was subsequently made into two movies.
CNN has contacted the French Ministry of Justice for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
33 minutes ago
- CNN
Exclusive: Inside the shadowy global networks that torture cats for profit
During a months-long investigation, CNN infiltrates and exposes the shadowy global networks which promote an underground marketplace of cat torture videos, aimed at customers who get a kick out of seeing animals suffer. CNN's Ivan Watson speaks to the online sleuths and activists fighting to dismantle these networks. Note: The Chinese government and social media platform X did not respond to CNN's request for comment. YouTube and Telegram told CNN that content promoting violence against animals is banned on their platforms; Meta declined to comment.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Stephen Miller calls out CNN anchor's 'lazy assumptions' about Trump's executive power
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called out CNN's Pamela Brown's "lazy assumptions" regarding the Trump administration's executive power during an appearance on "The Situation Room" on Friday. Miller rejected the notion that district judges should have to "green light" each individual policy directive or executive order that President Donald Trump implements, claiming that it challenges the will of the voters who put him in office. The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a lower court order that blocked the Trump administration from deporting roughly 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The decision is a near-term victory for Trump as he moves to crack down on border security and immigration priorities in his second term. Supreme Court Hands Trump Win On Revoking Parole For 500K Foreign Nationals The order stays, for now. The lower court ruling halted Trump's plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for some migrants living in the U.S., which allows individuals to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other "extraordinary and temporary conditions." Brown asked Miller whether he believes district judges should just "rubber stamp" whatever the Trump White House does, and if not, what checks and balances he thinks should be in place. Read On The Fox News App "It's not the job of a district court judge to perform an individual green light or red light on every single policy that the president takes as the head of the executive branch," Miller replied. "Just think about the premise baked into your question. Respectfully, Pam, you're saying that when the American people elect a president of the United States of America…" Brown interrupted before he could finish his thought, claiming that her words were being taken out of context, and that she was just asking what checks and balances should be in place. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture "I will answer the question happily," Miller responded. "But look, when you have these kinds of lazy assumptions built into questions, it makes it hard to have a constructive dialogue." The CNN anchor asked what "lazy assumptions" he thought she was making. Miller began to argue that district judges should not individually approve each executive action implemented by the president, but was interrupted by Brown stating that her question was being misinterpreted. She went on to clarify that she was questioning what checks and balances the Trump official felt were appropriate. Brown contended that her question about whether judges are expected to "rubber stamp" White House decisions was reasonable, before giving Miller the floor to finish his argument. "When you say, 'Do we think district court judges should rubber stamp each action' — there is a premise that is built into that that is absurd," he asserted. "The president is the sole head of the executive branch. He's the only officer in the entire government that's elected by the entire American people." "Democracy cannot function — in fact, democracy does not exist at all if each action the president takes - foreign policy, diplomatic, military, national security - has to be individually approved by 700 district court judges," he continued. "That's democracy? So if there's 15 communist, crazy judges on the court, that each of them as a team working together can block and freeze each and every executive action?"Original article source: Stephen Miller calls out CNN anchor's 'lazy assumptions' about Trump's executive power
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Haberman: Trump officials ‘happy' about Musk's departure
CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman said some White House officials are excited to see Elon Musk exit his role as a special government employee. The tech giant led the Department of Government Efficiency for 130 days with an objective to downsize federal spending by trillions. Haberman, also a New York Times journalist, said news coverage about cuts were politically 'problematic' for Trump and the reputation of his administration. 'They are happy…to have him go because, look, there are things [Musk] did that some of them are happy with. A bunch of them in Trump's world came around to Musk. Many others, however, were not so happy,' Haberman said during a Friday appearance on CNN's 'AC360.' The journalist said Musk's unsupported claims that dead people were receiving social security benefits and other unsubstantiated statements served as a 'source of tension' for the White House. Haberman added that the billionaire's social media presence granted him the power to 'intimidate' many of his colleagues in the government. Trump directly addressed Musk's role as an adviser during a Friday presser, commending the Tesla CEO for his government work. 'There's nobody like him, and he had to go through the slings and the arrows, which is a shame, because he's an incredible patriot,' the president told reporters in the Oval. Both Trump and Musk have said DOGE's work will continue even as the CEO retreats from the spotlight in Washington. 'This is not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning,' Musk said. 'The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time. The DOGE influence will only go stronger,' Musk added. 'It is permeating throughout the government, and I am confident that, over time, we will see a trillion dollars of savings and a reduction in — a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction.' Musk said he would help the agency chuck $36 trillion off the standing national debt.
