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Maybe the nation's most fabled prison, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five-year jail term for unlawful collusion to raise election financing from Libya – stands as the only remaining prison inside the city of Paris.

Located in the south part of Montparnasse district of the capital, it first opened in the year 1867 and hosted of a minimum of 40 capital punishments, the last in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the prison resumed operations in 2019 and accommodates more than 1,100 detainees.

Well-known past inmates comprise 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 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Inmates

High-profile or at-risk inmates are generally held in the jail’s QB4 unit for “individuals at risk” – the so-called “VIP section” – in individual cells, not the typical three-person units, and separated during outdoor activities for safety concerns.

Situated on the ground floor, the ward has 19 identical rooms and a dedicated exercise yard so detainees are not obliged to mix with other detainees – while they continue to be exposed to whistles, jeers and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.

Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. Practically, conditions are largely identical as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his cell and escorted by a prison officer each time he goes out.

“The objective is to avoid any problems at all, so we must stop him from encountering any inmates,” an insider revealed. “The most straightforward and most efficient method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Accommodation Details

Both isolation and protected rooms are the same to those elsewhere in the prison, measuring about eleven square meters, with window coverings intended to restrict interaction, a sleeping cot, a compact desk, a shower, WC, and landline telephone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy is provided with regular meals but will additionally have access to the canteen, where he can buy food to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a fitness room and the library. He can pay for a cooling unit for seven euros fifty a month and a television for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three permitted visits a per week, he will primarily be by himself – a privilege in La Santé, which notwithstanding its recent renovation is running at about double its planned occupancy of 657 inmates. The country's prisons are the third most packed in the EU bloc.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his innocence, has stated he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is sentenced to jail but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally bringing earplugs because the jail can be disruptive at night, and a few jumpers, because rooms can be cool. Sarkozy has commented he is fearless of spending time in jail and plans to utilize the time to write a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, though, for how long he will actually remain in La Santé: his attorneys have lodged for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will need to demonstrate a potential of absconding, reoffending or witness-tampering to justify his further imprisonment.

France's jurists have suggested he could be out in less than a month.