Latest news with #supermaxprison
France 24
24-07-2025
- France 24
French drug baron transferred to new supermax prison
Amra is among the first convicted drug traffickers to be sent to the new supermax prison Amra made headlines when he escaped in May 2024 at a road toll from a prison van following an attack by suspected accomplices in which two prison guards were killed. After a months-long manhunt he was caught in Romania and extradited to France. He is among the first convicted drugs criminals to be taken to Vendin-le-Vieil, in northern France, as part of a government campaign against the drugs trade. It is one of two brand new high-security prisons. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, who announced the transfer on X, has said he wants to lock up 200 of France's biggest drug traffickers in the two top-security prisons in a bid to crack down on networks that operate from within jails. The main purpose of the supermax prisons is to prevent drug barons from continuing operations © Michel Euler / POOL/AFP In October, a high-security prison wing is to open in the northwestern town of Conde-sur-Sarthe. As part of the new regime, mobile phone signals will be jammed and prisoners will undergo mandatory searches after every contact with the outside world. At the Vendin-le-Vieil jail, the exercise yard has been concreted over to prevent objects from being hidden and an airport-style body scanner installed. Grating has been added to the bars on the cells and hatches installed on all doors so prisoners can be handcuffed before they leave their cells. A glass screen now prevents physical contact between inmates and visitors. At the time of the deadly ambush, Amra already had a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was 15. Amra was suspected of ordering hits from prison, including in the months leading up to his breakout. © 2025 AFP
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
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.
