France to Construct Prison in Amazon Jungle to Combat Drug-Trafficking

France will construct a new high-security prison in the Amazon rainforest, within its overseas territory of French Guiana. The aim is to isolate top drug traffickers and gang leaders, keeping them far from mainland criminal networks, officials announced this week.

The facility will cost €400 million (about $449 million) and is expected to open by 2028. It will be constructed in a remote area near the Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni commune, in the country’s northwest.

The site sits near a known route for drug couriers arriving from neighboring Brazil and Suriname, making it a strategic location for France’s broader crackdown on organized crime.

Strict rules to limit gang contact

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the prison will house up to 500 inmates, with a separate wing reserved for the most dangerous individuals.

The facility will operate under what officials describe as an “extremely strict carceral regime,” designed to prevent inmates from maintaining contact with their criminal organizations.

France will build a new high-security prison in its overseas department of French Guiana to house drug traffickers and radical Islamists, the country’s justice minister announced during a visit to the territory.

Gérald Darmanin told Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper that… pic.twitter.com/y7lpiKsn7z

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Darmanin explained that this new prison is part of our strategy to break the chain of drug trafficking. Placing it in French Guiana puts distance between criminal leaders and their networks, so they “will no longer be able to have any contact with their criminal networks.”

Guiana’s geography makes it ideal for isolation

French Guiana, located on the northeast coast of South America, is an overseas department of France. Residents hold complete French citizenship, granting them access to equivalent public services and voting rights as individuals in the mainland.

However, its physical distance of more than 7,000 kilometers (4349 miles) from Paris makes it ideal for detaining high-risk individuals.

Attacks on prisons fuel urgency for reform

The announcement comes amid a surge in attacks on French prisons. In recent months, armed individuals have targeted facilities across the country, including an incident at La Farlede prison in Toulon, where shots were fired.

Vehicles have also been set on fire outside several jails. Authorities believe the attacks are a reaction to tougher legislation aimed at dismantling gang networks.

Some of those behind the attacks have claimed to defend prisoners’ rights. Officials, however, view the incidents as attempts to intimidate the justice system and disrupt reforms.

New laws target organized crime

The French government has passed new laws to combat growing prison-related violence and illegal activity. These measures include establishing a specialized branch of the public prosecutor’s office focused on organized crime, granting expanded powers to investigators, and introducing new protections for informants. Additional high-security prisons are also planned.

French prisons have long struggled to stop the smuggling of mobile phones, which enable inmates to run criminal operations from inside. Authorities believe that isolating gang leaders in facilities like the one in French Guiana, far from their networks, will reduce such risks.

New site recalls dark history of Devil’s Island

The location of France’s new prison in the Amazon also carries historical weight. Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni once served as the entry point to the infamous Devil’s Island penal colony, where about 70,000 prisoners were held between 1852 and 1954.

The colony became widely known through the memoir Papillon, later adapted into a film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The region that once symbolized punishment and exile will again play a key role in France’s efforts to fight crime.