🔗 Share this article

Perhaps the nation's most notorious jail, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year incarceration for unlawful collusion to obtain campaign funds from the Libyan government – stands as the last remaining prison within the Paris city limits.

Situated in the southern Montparnasse district of the city, it first opened in 1867 and was the site of a minimum of 40 capital punishments, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the institution reopened half a decade later and houses more than 1,100 prisoners.

Famous former prisoners encompass poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Prominent Inmates

Notable or at-risk prisoners are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 unit for “vulnerable people” – the often called “VIP section” – in single cells, rather than the standard triple-occupancy rooms, and isolated during outdoor activities for protection purposes.

Located on the first floor, the ward has a set of uniform units and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not obliged to interact with other prisoners – even though they continue to be exposed to calls, taunts and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Primarily for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. Actually, circumstances are very similar as in the QB4 ward: the ex-president will be alone in his unit and supervised by a guard every time he leaves it.

“The objective is to avert any incidents at all, so we need to block him from coming into contact with other prisoners,” a source within the facility revealed. “The easiest and most efficient solution is to send Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Each of the isolation and protected cells are the same to those elsewhere in the institution, measuring approximately 10 square meters, with coverings on windows created to reduce communication, a bed, a writing table, a shower unit, toilet, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will additionally have the ability to the prison store, where he can purchase groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a private recreation area, a gym and the book collection. He can rent a cooling unit for 7.50 euros a per month and a TV for fourteen euros fifteen.

Restricted Visits

Apart from three allowed visits a week, he will mostly be by himself – a privilege in the facility, which despite its recent upgrades is operating at roughly twice its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's correctional facilities are the third most packed in the European Union.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a life story of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is condemned to prison but flees to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally taking noise blockers because the facility can be loud at night, and multiple sweaters, because units can be chilly. Sarkozy has stated he is unafraid of serving time in prison and plans to use it to compose a book.

Uncertain Duration

The duration is unknown, however, how long he will actually remain in La Santé: his attorneys have submitted for his premature release, and an appeals judge will must establish a potential of flight, reoffending or interfering with witnesses to warrant his continued detention.

France's law specialists have indicated he might be released within a month.