Plans for jail wing in Devil’s Island to carry drug traffickers and Islamic militants sparks outcry

French plans to construct a maximum-security jail wing for drug traffickers and Islamic militants close to a former penal colony in French Guiana have sparked an outcry amongst citizens and native officers.

The wing would shape a part of a $450m (£337m) jail introduced in 2017 this is anticipated to be finished by means of 2028 and hang 500 inmates. The jail can be inbuilt Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a the town bordering Suriname that when won prisoners shipped by means of Napoleon III within the 1800s, a few of whom have been despatched to the infamous Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana.

French justice minister Gérald Darmanin introduced plans to construct the high-security wing all over an reliable discuss with to French Guiana on Saturday. He mentioned in a Facebook submit that 15 of the wing’s 60 areas can be reserved for Islamic militants.

Darmanin was once quoted by means of Le Journal du Dimanche, a French weekly newspaper, as announcing that the jail additionally goals to stay suspected drug traffickers from having any touch with their legal networks.

“We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,” he advised newshounds in French Guiana. “We must react.”

French media, quoting the justice ministry, reported that individuals from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories can be despatched in precedence to the brand new jail.

The announcement angered many throughout French Guiana, an in a foreign country French division situated in South America. It was once as soon as an notorious colony recognized for containing French political prisoners, together with military Capt Alfred Dreyfus, who was once accused of being a secret agent.

Dreyfus was once incarcerated on Devil’s Island, a penal colony that operated for a century and was once featured within the bestselling French novel “Papillon,” which later was once made into two motion pictures.

Jean-Paul Fereira, appearing president of French Guiana’s territorial collective, an meeting of 51 lawmakers that oversees native govt affairs, mentioned they have been bowled over by means of the announcement because the plan to construct a high-security wing was once by no means mentioned with them forward of time.

“It is therefore with astonishment and indignation that the elected members of the Collectivity discovered, together with the entire population of Guiana, the information detailed in Le Journal Du Dimanche,” he wrote in a commentary posted on social media.

Fereira mentioned the transfer was once disrespectful and insulting, noting that the settlement French Guiana signed in 2017 was once for the development of a brand new jail supposed to relieve overpopulation on the primary jail.

“While all local elected officials have long been calling for strong measures to curb the rise of organised crime in our territory, Guiana is not meant to welcome criminals and radicalised people from (mainland France),” he wrote.

Also decrying the plan was once Jean-Victor Castor, a member of parliament in French Guiana. He mentioned he wrote without delay to France’s high minister to precise his considerations, noting that the verdict was once taken with out consulting native officers.

“It’s an insult to our history, a political provocation and a colonial regression,” Castor wrote in a commentary issued Sunday as he known as on France to withdraw the challenge.

A spokesperson for France’s justice minister didn’t in an instant reply to a message in search of remark.