🔗 Share this article

Maybe the nation's most fabled prison, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year prison sentence for illegal conspiracy to solicit political donations from the Libyan government – is the sole surviving prison inside the city of Paris.

Found in the south part of Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in 1867 and hosted of at least 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partially closed for refurbishment in 2014, the prison resumed operations in 2019 and houses more than 1,100 inmates.

Well-known past prisoners comprise poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or at-risk inmates are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 section for “vulnerable people” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in solitary cells, not the usual triple-occupancy cells, and kept alone during exercise periods for security reasons.

Located on the initial level, the ward has 19 identical units and a reserved recreation area so inmates are not forced to interact with other detainees – although they remain exposed to calls, jeers and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Mainly for that reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a isolated area. Practically, conditions are largely identical as in the protected unit: the ex-president will be alone in his cell and supervised by a corrections officer whenever he exits.

“The objective is to avoid any problems whatsoever, so we must stop him from encountering fellow detainees,” a source within the facility revealed. “The most straightforward and most efficient approach is to send Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”

Living Quarters

Both isolation and protected cells are similar to those elsewhere in the institution, averaging approximately 10 square meters, with window blinds intended to reduce communication, a bed, a compact desk, a shower unit, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy is provided with typical prison food but will also have access to the canteen, where he can buy items to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a exercise room and the book collection. He can pay for a cooling unit for 7.50 euros a month and a television set for 14.15 euros.

Limited Social Contact

In addition to three authorized meetings a per week, he will mostly be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which despite its recent renovation is functioning at about double its intended capacity of 657 detainees. France’s prisons are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his non-guilt, has stated he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to jail but flees to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally taking hearing protection because prison can be disruptive at night, and multiple sweaters, because rooms can be cool. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of serving time in jail and plans to use it to author a book.

Uncertain Duration

It remains uncertain, though, the length of time he will in fact be housed in the prison: his legal team have already filed for his conditional release, and an reviewing judge will have to prove a chance of absconding, repeat offenses or interfering with witnesses to justify his further imprisonment.

France's jurists have suggested he may be freed in less than a month.