Name: France allows notorious drug lord day release for work
Uploaded: 2025-11-24T18:33:01.323Z
Duration: 2 min 4 s
Description: Ouaihid Ben Faiza, one of France’s most notorious drug lords, has been granted daytime release from high-security prison to work, returning at night. The move, intended for rehabilitation, has sparked controversy due to his past escape and criminal history.

Ouaihid Ben Faiza, one of France’s most notorious drug lords, has been granted daytime release from high-security prison to work, returning at night. The move, intended for rehabilitation, has sparked controversy due to his past escape and criminal history.

Vendin-le-Vieil

Wahid Benfaiza, identified as one of France's leading drug traffickers, has received a sentence adjustment permitting him to work during the day while remaining incarcerated at night. The 52-year-old, currently serving his sentence in Vendin-le-Vieil, will be accompanied by family, a lawyer, or probation officers during his release.

The decision has drawn criticism from prison unions and the French justice minister, who argue that such measures are inappropriate for high-profile organized crime figures. Benfaiza's lawyer supports the move as a step toward rehabilitation, while the case has fueled debate amid France's ongoing struggle with drug trafficking.

France allows notorious drug lord day release for work

Wahid Benfaiza is considered one of France's biggest drug traffickers. And he's serving his sentence in the high-security prison in Vendan-le-Vieil. Now aged 52 years old, he has been granted a sentence adjustment that will allow him to work during the day, but require him to sleep in prison. This measure requires that he be accompanied and therefore supported either by his family, a lawyer or a probation office. Today he is traveling by TGV train from the northern city of Lille, close to where he is incarcerated, to Lyon for a job interview. The decision has prison unions up in arms. It makes no sense to grant release to inmates incarcerated in our facilities, since they are considered to be among the 100 biggest drug traffickers. If we think they are no longer dangerous, then they have no place in the organized crime unit. It's a dangerous logic. It's ridiculous. Prior to his incarceration, Benfaiza was at the center of a vast drug trafficking network in La Corneuve, a commune in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. In 2014, he escaped captivity after a hospital visit in a daring plan executed by a team of five disguised as house painters. His sentence is set to finish in 2029. Gérald Darmanin, French minister of justice, is crying foul. Our legislative framework on the application of prison sentences must be revised in light of the realities of large-scale organized crime. For Benfaiza's lawyer, the judge's decision is justified. There are two solutions when people are given long prison sentences. Either we wait until the end of their sentence, open the prison doors, and they walk out, without support, without anything, without family, without money. Or we support them so that they can get back on track. That's what rehabilitation is. The case is causing controversy in France, as the country's drug trafficking problems are growing visibly.

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