French Guiana’s Amazon jungle prison begins construction in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, aiming to confine 500 traffickers and radical Islamists by 2028. The remote €400m fortress offers strict regimes, bug spray, and a cinematic escape challenge far from mainland France.

Plans for the ultra-secure facility follow months of prison attacks by criminal gangs, with France’s justice minister vowing zero contact between inmates and drug networks. The jungle site near Devil’s Island gives new meaning to high-security, where kingpins swap phones for raincoats.