Gérald Darmanin wants “rehabilitation” centers for juvenile offenders

The Minister of the Interior and Overseas Gérald Darmanin, visiting Mayotte, announced that he was going to make proposals to open “places of re-education and recovery” for juvenile offenders, supervised by soldiers.

Places supervised by soldiers

“The President of the Republic in his campaign has proposed something that has not been discussed much: places supervised by soldiers, which are places of re-education, recovery of some children, very young adolescents, who do not have no parents, or very few. We saw it a little in Reunion, we see it a lot here in Mayotte,” the minister told the press after visiting the hospital on this island in the Indian Ocean.

On @mayottela1erethe Minister of the Interior and #Overseas Gérald Darmanin announces that he wants to set up the first military training center for the re-education of young offenders – a promise made by Emmanuel Macron – in #Mayotte. pic.twitter.com/UxPIgAyFQT

— La1ere.fr (@la1ere) August 22, 2022

Support for children under 13 years old

He announced that he would make proposals to this effect to the President of the Republic “as of next week”. He will detail the contours of this device. Last Thursday, Eric Dupond-Moretti had already announced the creation in 2024 of a closed educational center in Mayotte. A place for convicted children aged 13 and over. But these new places of recovery and re-education which would be supervised by soldiers will address them to an even younger public.

This would therefore make it possible to take care of children aged 9, 10 or 11 on the island, who are totally desocialized and whom the police sometimes see in the street armed with machetes and knives. The idea is not to generalize this measure to all French departments but only where there are needs. It remains to be seen whether this support will go through the endorsement of a court decision. Another reflection is also open with the aim of giving law enforcement the possibility of using intermediate weapons to control these young children.