"There are those who were imprisoned under criminal law who turned radical in prison. Currently there are…. 1,300 of such radicalized individuals," Urvoas said, speaking on air of the Europe 1 radio station.
Commenting on the options of keeping such people in prison, Urvoas stressed that it was possible either to group radicalized people and risk creating collective subconscious or to divide them, which may result in emergence of proselytism — attempts to convert people to Islam.
According to media reports, 15,000 people are registered in France as posing terror threat and 2,000 people are believed to have links to terrorist networks.
France has been hit by deadly terror attacks since 2015. The deadliest of these attacks took place in Paris in November last year and resulted in 130 people killed. In the aftermath of the attacks, the French government has been implementing measures to prevent acts of terrorism.
