🔗 Share this article

Possibly France’s most legendary jail, the La Santé prison – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year jail term for criminal conspiracy to obtain election financing from Libya – remains the only remaining prison within the city of Paris.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse area of the city, it first opened in 1867 and was the scene of a minimum of 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the institution resumed operations half a decade later and holds in excess of 1,100 inmates.

Well-known ex- detainees encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Prisoners

High-profile or endangered prisoners are typically held in the prison's QB4 unit for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in single cells, not the typical triple-occupancy cells, and separated during outdoor activities for safety concerns.

Positioned on the ground floor, the ward has 19 identical rooms and a dedicated exercise yard so detainees are not required to interact with other prisoners – even though they continue to be subject to shouts, taunts and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a separate wing. Practically, the environment are largely identical as in the protected unit: the former president will be by himself in his unit and supervised by a corrections officer whenever he leaves it.

“The objective is to prevent any problems at all, so we must block him from encountering fellow detainees,” a source within the facility stated. “The simplest and most effective method is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to isolation.”

Living Quarters

Both isolation and VIP cells are the same to those in other parts in the institution, averaging approximately 10 sq metres, with window blinds designed to restrict contact, a sleeping cot, a compact desk, a shower, lavatory, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will additionally have access to the commissary, where he can buy items to cook for himself, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a exercise room and the prison library. He can lease a fridge for 7.50 euros a month and a TV for €14.15.

Restricted Visits

Apart from three allowed visits a week, he will mostly be on his own – an advantage in the facility, which despite its modernization is operating at about double its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s jails are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly maintained his non-guilt, has declared he will be bringing with him a account of Jesus and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also packing earplugs because prison can be loud at during the night, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be cool. Sarkozy has said he is fearless of serving time in jail and aims to use it to write a manuscript.

Possible Early Release

It remains uncertain, nevertheless, how long he will really be housed in the prison: his attorneys have submitted for his conditional release, and an reviewing judge will must establish a potential of absconding, reoffending or witness-tampering to justify his continued detention.

French jurists have indicated he may be freed before a month passes.