🔗 Share this article

Perhaps France’s most fabled jail, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year incarceration for unlawful collusion to solicit campaign funds from the Libyan government – remains the last remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Found in the southern Montparnasse area of the city, it first opened in the year 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 death penalties, the final one in 1972. Partly shut down for upgrades in 2014, the prison resumed operations five years later and houses more than 1,100 inmates.

Famous former prisoners comprise 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 militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Inmates

Prominent or vulnerable detainees are generally held in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP section” – in solitary cells, rather than the typical three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during yard time for security reasons.

Situated on the ground floor, the section has a set of uniform rooms and a private outdoor space so inmates are not forced to mix with other detainees – although they are still subject to calls, jeers and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Mostly for that reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. Actually, circumstances are much the same as in the protected unit: the past leader will be solitary in his unit and accompanied by a corrections officer whenever he exits.

“The objective is to avert any issues whatsoever, so we have to prevent him from coming into contact with any inmates,” an insider revealed. “The simplest and most efficient solution is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and protected cells are identical to those in other parts in the institution, roughly about 10 sq metres, with window coverings intended to restrict interaction, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower unit, toilet, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served regular meals but will additionally have the option to the canteen, where he can acquire groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a private exercise yard, a exercise room and the prison library. He can rent a refrigerator for €7.50 a per month and a television set for €14.15.

Limited Social Contact

Besides three authorized meetings a week, he will mainly be alone – a luxury in the prison, which notwithstanding its modernization is operating at approximately double its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s jails are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly protested his non-guilt, has stated he will be taking with him a account of Jesus and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is condemned to prison but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was also bringing noise blockers because prison can be noisy at night, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of being in jail and intends to make use of the period to compose a publication.

Uncertain Duration

The duration is unknown, nevertheless, how long he will in fact remain in the facility: his lawyers have lodged for his premature release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a risk of flight, further crimes or interfering with witnesses to justify his further imprisonment.

French legal experts have indicated he could be out before a month passes.