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Maybe France’s most legendary prison, the La Santé prison – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year jail term for unlawful collusion to raise political donations from Libya – is the sole surviving prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse area of the capital, it opened in the year 1867 and was the site of no fewer than 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the prison reopened in 2019 and houses more than 1,100 prisoners.

Renowned former prisoners encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or endangered detainees are usually accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “vulnerable people” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in single cells, rather than the typical three-person rooms, and isolated during exercise periods for protection purposes.

Positioned on the ground floor, the ward has nineteen similar rooms and a reserved recreation area so prisoners are not required to mix with other detainees – while they are still subject to shouts, jeers and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.

Primarily for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. In reality, the environment are much the same as in the QB4 ward: the past leader will be alone in his unit and escorted by a guard each time he leaves it.

“The aim is to avert any incidents at all, so we need to prevent him from meeting any inmates,” an insider stated. “The easiest and most efficient approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and VIP cells are the same to those elsewhere in the prison, measuring around eleven square meters, with window coverings intended to limit communication, a bed, a compact desk, a shower, toilet, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy is provided with standard meals but will also have access to the commissary, where he can buy items to cook for himself, as well as to a small solitary exercise yard, a exercise room and the book collection. He can rent a refrigerator for 7.50 euros a month and a television set for €14.15.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three authorized meetings a per week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which in spite of its recent upgrades is running at approximately twice its planned occupancy of 657 inmates. The country's prisons are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has declared he will be taking with him a account of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to jail but flees to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also packing noise blockers because the facility can be loud at night, and several sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of being in prison and intends to use it to compose a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It is unclear, however, the length of time he will in fact be housed in La Santé: his legal team have submitted for his premature release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a risk of flight, further crimes or influencing testimony to validate his ongoing incarceration.

France's jurists have proposed he may be freed within a month.