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Possibly the nation's most fabled prison, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year incarceration for unlawful collusion to obtain election financing from the Libyan government – stands as the last remaining prison within the Paris city limits.

Located in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the city, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the scene of a minimum of 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the institution resumed operations half a decade later and holds over 1,100 detainees.

Famous former inmates encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Notable Prisoners

Prominent or vulnerable inmates are usually held in the jail’s QB4 unit for “protected persons” – the often called “VIP section” – in solitary cells, rather than the standard three-person units, and kept alone during outdoor activities for security reasons.

Situated on the first floor, the ward has nineteen similar cells and a reserved exercise yard so prisoners are not obliged to mix with fellow inmates – while they remain vulnerable to calls, insults and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the segregated section, which is in a isolated area. In reality, conditions are largely identical as in the QB4 ward: the ex-president will be by himself in his room and escorted by a corrections officer each time he goes out.

“The aim is to avert any issues at all, so we have to prevent him from coming into contact with any inmates,” a source within the facility commented. “The easiest and most efficient solution is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy straight to isolation.”

Cell Conditions

Each of the isolation and protected cells are similar to those in other parts in the jail, averaging around 10 sq metres, with coverings on windows intended to reduce interaction, a bed, a small desk, a shower unit, WC, and fixed-line phone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will receive typical prison food but will additionally have the ability to the canteen, where he can acquire groceries to make his own meals, as well as to a individual recreation area, a fitness room and the library. He can lease a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a per month and a television set for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three authorized meetings a week, he will mostly be alone – an advantage in the facility, which in spite of its recent upgrades is functioning at about twice its intended capacity of 657 detainees. The country's prisons are the third most congested in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has consistently asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a account of Jesus Christ and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is given a sentence to prison but escapes to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally bringing noise blockers because the jail can be loud at nighttime, and several sweaters, because rooms can be cold. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of being in jail and plans to utilize the time to write a book.

Possible Early Release

It remains uncertain, nevertheless, the length of time he will really be housed in La Santé: his lawyers have already filed for his early release, and an appeals judge will have to prove a chance of flight, reoffending or influencing testimony to justify his continued detention.

France's legal experts have proposed he could be out before a month passes.