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

Possibly France’s most fabled prison, the La Santé prison – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to obtain campaign funds from Libya – is the sole surviving prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Found in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it opened in the year 1867 and hosted of no fewer than 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly shut down for renovation in 2014, the prison resumed operations in 2019 and houses in excess of 1,100 inmates.

Well-known former detainees comprise poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Prominent Prisoners

High-profile or vulnerable detainees are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 ward for “individuals at risk” – the dubbed “premium block” – in single cells, rather than the standard three-person rooms, and kept alone during exercise periods for safety concerns.

Located on the ground floor, the ward has a set of uniform units and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not required to interact with fellow inmates – although they remain vulnerable to shouts, insults and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.

Primarily for this reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. Actually, the environment are much the same as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his cell and supervised by a prison officer each time he goes out.

“The goal is to avert any problems whatsoever, so we need to stop him from coming into contact with other prisoners,” a source within the facility stated. “The easiest and most efficient method is to send Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Each of the solitary and protected units are similar to those elsewhere in the institution, measuring around eleven square meters, with window blinds intended to reduce interaction, a sleeping cot, a compact desk, a shower unit, WC, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served standard meals but will also have access to the commissary, where he can buy groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary recreation area, a exercise room and the book collection. He can pay for a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a month and a television for €14.15.

Restricted Visits

In addition to three permitted visits a week, he will primarily be alone – a privilege in La Santé, which notwithstanding its modernization is operating at approximately double its designed capacity of 657 detainees. France’s prisons are the third most packed in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly asserted his innocence, has said he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is condemned to prison but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally bringing hearing protection because the facility can be noisy at nighttime, and several sweaters, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has stated he is fearless of serving time in jail and intends to make use of the period to author a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, though, how long he will really stay in the facility: his lawyers have submitted for his early release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a risk of escaping, further crimes or witness-tampering to justify his continued detention.

France's jurists have proposed he might be released within a month.