Inside French Prisons, A Struggle To Combat Radicalization
Some of the home-grown terrorists who have struck France in recent years were petty criminals who were radicalized in prison.
With 2,500 inmates, the penitentiary institution of Fresnes, about 20 miles south of Paris, is one of the largest prisons in Europe. Like most French prisons, Fresnes is overcrowded. Built in the late 19th century, its tiny cells, each meant for one prisoner, most often house three.
Inmates scream curses and catcalls from their barred windows as I visit a small, empty sports yard ensconced between cell blocks. Plastic bags and punctured soccer balls are caught in the surrounding concertina wire.
The prisoners here yelled out in just this way back in November 2015, refusing to honor a minute of silence for the
