Islamist ‘time bomb’ in French prisons

(France 24) A French government policy of grouping together and isolating radical Islamist inmates in prisons is “potentially dangerous” and risks creating a “time bomb”, the country’s independent prisons authority has warned.

In a report published Tuesday, Adeline Hazan, France’s controller general for prisons, said the policy could lead to those with less extreme views becoming influenced by some of the more radical prisoners they are confined with.

"The grouping facilitates proselytism. There is a risk of exacerbation and a snowball effect,” she said in the report. “We risk creating time bombs.”

France has been separating radical Islamist inmates from the rest of the prison population at certain detention facilities since October last year, when a pilot scheme was launched at Fresnes Prison just south of Paris.

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