at Roanne prison, a penal area reserved for radicalized women

While the terrorist threat remains very high in France, in a context where several dozen women have been repatriated from Syria and where more and more prisoners convicted of terrorism are leaving prison in the 2010s, a special care unit charge of radicalized female prisoners enters service at the Roanne detention center, in the Loire. It is only the second place of its kind in France.

A special space has been set up on the ground floor of the Roanne detention center to accommodate this new QPR women (QPR for “radicalization prevention district”). It is completely sealed from the rest of the prison. A dedicated library, exercise yard and gym, no contact possible with other prisoners, men and women.

Their evolution constantly evaluated

Currently it is a dry run before the gradual reception, over the coming weeks, of these radicalized inmates. There will ultimately be 14 of them, in 14 individual cells, and will be able to stay there for six months, renewable. Some of these women have already been convicted of acts of terrorism, others are awaiting trial. Some lived under Daesh in the Iraqi-Syrian zone. Many were until then in traditional detention elsewhere in France, often in solitary confinement.

As in the first neighborhood of its kind inaugurated two years ago in Rennes, support will be provided with integration counselors and specialized educators, psychologists, teachers of history, geopolitics, and Islamologists to help these women to distinguish what is Islam from what is terrorist ideology. Their evaluation will be permanent to monitor their evolution. To supervise them: around fifteen supervisors, all volunteers and specially trained for this particular audience.