What Lies Ahead the Former President in La Santé Prison and What Belongings Has He Taken?

Perhaps France’s most notorious correctional facility, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year incarceration for unlawful collusion to raise political donations from the Libyan government – stands as the sole surviving prison inside the Paris city limits.

Located in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the prison reopened half a decade later and holds over 1,100 detainees.

Renowned ex- inmates include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for High-Profile Inmates

Notable or vulnerable prisoners are usually accommodated in the prison's QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP section” – in individual cells, not the usual three-person rooms, and isolated during yard time for protection purposes.

Located on the initial level, the unit has 19 identical rooms and a reserved recreation area so inmates are not obliged to mingle with other prisoners – even though they are still subject to calls, jeers and smartphone photos from adjacent cells.

Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. Practically, circumstances are largely identical as in the QB4 ward: the ex-president will be alone in his cell and accompanied by a corrections officer every time he leaves it.

“The objective is to avoid any problems at all, so we have to block him from meeting fellow detainees,” an insider stated. “The easiest and best approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Living Quarters

Each of the solitary and VIP cells are the same to those elsewhere in the jail, measuring about eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to reduce communication, a bed, a compact desk, a shower unit, WC, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy is provided with standard meals but will additionally have access to the canteen, where he can buy food to make his own meals, as well as to a individual outdoor space, a gym and the prison library. He can pay for a fridge for 7.50 euros a monthly and a television for €14.15.

Restricted Visits

Besides three allowed visits a each week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in the prison, which despite its recent upgrades is operating at approximately twice its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. France’s correctional facilities are the third most congested in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a account of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also taking hearing protection because prison can be disruptive at nighttime, and multiple sweaters, because units can be chilly. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of being in jail and aims to use it to write a manuscript.

Release Prospects

The duration is unknown, however, how long he will in fact stay in the facility: his lawyers have submitted for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will need to demonstrate a potential of flight, further crimes or interfering with witnesses to warrant his further imprisonment.

French legal experts have suggested he might be released within a month.