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Possibly France’s most legendary prison, La Santé – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year jail term for illegal conspiracy to raise election financing from Libya – stands as the last remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Found in the southern Montparnasse district of the city, it opened in the year 1867 and hosted of a minimum of 40 executions, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the institution resumed operations in 2019 and holds in excess of 1,100 detainees.

Famous former detainees encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for High-Profile Inmates

High-profile or at-risk detainees are usually accommodated in the prison's QB4 section for “protected persons” – the often called “VIP section” – in single cells, rather than the standard three-person cells, and kept alone during exercise periods for safety concerns.

Positioned on the first floor, the ward has nineteen similar units and a dedicated exercise yard so inmates are not forced to mix with fellow inmates – although they are still subject to calls, taunts and mobile snapshots from neighboring units.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. In reality, circumstances are much the same as in QB4: the past leader will be alone in his unit and accompanied by a corrections officer every time he goes out.

“The goal is to prevent any problems whatsoever, so we need to stop him from meeting other prisoners,” a source within the facility commented. “The most straightforward and most effective approach is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy straight to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Each of the isolation and VIP rooms are similar to those elsewhere in the jail, measuring approximately 10 square meters, with coverings on windows created to limit contact, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower unit, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy is provided with regular meals but will additionally have access to the canteen, where he can acquire food to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary exercise yard, a exercise room and the book collection. He can lease a fridge for 7.50 euros a per month and a television set for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Besides three authorized meetings a week, he will mostly be on his own – an advantage in the facility, which in spite of its recent upgrades is functioning at approximately double its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s correctional facilities are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his innocence, has said he will be carrying with him a life story of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but flees to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was also bringing noise blockers because the jail can be disruptive at nighttime, and a few jumpers, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of being in jail and aims to use it to write a book.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, though, how long he will actually be housed in La Santé: his attorneys have lodged for his early release, and an reviewing judge will have to prove a chance of absconding, further crimes or influencing testimony to validate his continued detention.

French legal experts have indicated he may be freed in less than a month.