What Awaits the Former President in La Santé Prison and What Personal Items Has He Taken?

Possibly the nation's most notorious correctional facility, the La Santé prison – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year jail term for illegal conspiracy to solicit election financing from Libya – is the last remaining prison within the city of Paris.

Located in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and hosted of a minimum of 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the institution resumed operations five years later and houses over 1,100 inmates.

Famous past inmates comprise poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Notable Inmates

Prominent or at-risk prisoners are usually held in the prison's QB4 ward for “vulnerable people” – the so-called “VIP quarters” – in solitary cells, not the typical three-inmate units, and kept alone during exercise periods for protection purposes.

Positioned on the initial level, the section has a set of uniform units and a dedicated outdoor space so inmates are not required to mix with other prisoners – while they continue to be exposed to shouts, taunts and cellphone pictures from neighboring units.

Mostly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. Actually, circumstances are much the same as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his cell and escorted by a prison officer each time he leaves it.

“The goal is to avoid any incidents at all, so we need to block him from encountering other prisoners,” a prison source commented. “The most straightforward and most efficient method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and VIP units are similar to those elsewhere in the prison, roughly about eleven square meters, with coverings on windows intended to reduce communication, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower, toilet, and stationary phone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have access to the commissary, where he can acquire groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a gym and the prison library. He can rent a cooling unit for seven euros fifty a per month and a TV for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three authorized meetings a per week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in the prison, which despite its modernization is operating at roughly twice its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. The country's jails are the third most overcrowded in the EU bloc.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has stated he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to jail but flees to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally bringing hearing protection because the jail can be disruptive at night, and several sweaters, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has said he is fearless of serving time in prison and intends to utilize the time to write a publication.

Uncertain Duration

It remains uncertain, however, the length of time he will in fact be housed in the prison: his legal team have lodged for his conditional release, and an reviewing judge will must establish a risk of escaping, reoffending or witness-tampering to warrant his ongoing incarceration.

France's legal experts have proposed he might be released within a month.