🔗 Share this article

Perhaps France’s most fabled correctional facility, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year jail term for unlawful collusion to raise political donations from Libya – is the sole surviving prison within the French capital's boundaries.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it first opened in 1867 and was the site of at least 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partially shut down for upgrades in 2014, the facility reopened half a decade later and accommodates over 1,100 prisoners.

Well-known past inmates include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Inmates

Prominent or vulnerable prisoners are typically placed in the jail’s QB4 unit for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, not the typical three-person units, and separated during exercise periods for security reasons.

Situated on the ground floor, the ward has a set of uniform rooms and a reserved recreation area so prisoners are not forced to mingle with fellow inmates – although they remain subject to shouts, insults and smartphone photos from neighboring units.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. Actually, circumstances are very similar as in the protected unit: the former president will be solitary in his cell and escorted by a prison officer each time he goes out.

“The goal is to prevent any problems whatsoever, so we need to block him from meeting any inmates,” a source within the facility stated. “The most straightforward and most efficient solution is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to segregation.”

Living Quarters

Each of the solitary and VIP units are identical to those elsewhere in the jail, roughly about 10 sq metres, with coverings on windows created to reduce interaction, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower, toilet, and stationary phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy will receive regular meals but will additionally have the ability to the canteen, where he can acquire food to prepare himself, as well as to a private recreation area, a fitness room and the book collection. He can lease a fridge for 7.50 euros a monthly and a television for fourteen euros fifteen.

Restricted Visits

Besides three authorized meetings a each week, he will mainly be by himself – a luxury in the prison, which in spite of its recent renovation is running at approximately double its planned occupancy of 657 prisoners. France’s correctional facilities are the third most packed in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a biography of Jesus and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally taking hearing protection because the facility can be disruptive at during the night, and a few jumpers, because rooms can be chilly. Sarkozy has stated he is not scared of spending time in prison and intends to use it to compose a publication.

Release Prospects

The duration is unknown, nevertheless, how long he will in fact remain in the facility: his attorneys have submitted for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will must establish a chance of flight, further crimes or witness-tampering to validate his continued detention.

French jurists have proposed he could be out within a month.