Hawzah News Agency-Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday, October 6, nine new institutions and other extra facilities will be constructed to add more than 5,000 cells to the prison system in the first phase of the expansion plan.

“The situation is critical, especially in the short-term prisons (for people sentenced to two years or less), where overpopulation is 140 percent,” he said.

Muslims being targeted?

French media and politicians constantly claim that some of the worst recent attacks in the country have been committed by people “radicalized” in jails.

At least 60 percent of Frances’s prison inmates are Muslims, who account only for eight percent of the country's population.

Hence, the planned expansion of jails unveiled by Prime Minster Valls on Thursday is feared to ultimately target Muslims.

Activists and Muslim organizations blame France’s social policies for the disproportionate number of Muslims in prisons.

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