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Maybe France’s most fabled jail, the La Santé prison – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year prison sentence for unlawful collusion to solicit political donations from the Libyan government – remains the only remaining prison within the Paris city limits.

Found in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it was inaugurated in 1867 and was the site of a minimum of 40 executions, the most recent in 1972. Partially shut down for renovation in 2014, the facility resumed operations five years later and accommodates over 1,100 inmates.

Renowned ex- detainees comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Notable Prisoners

Notable or vulnerable inmates are generally accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the so-called “premium block” – in single cells, not the typical triple-occupancy cells, and kept alone during yard time for protection purposes.

Located on the initial level, the unit has nineteen similar rooms and a reserved outdoor space so detainees are not obliged to mingle with fellow inmates – although they are still exposed to calls, taunts and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. In reality, the environment are largely identical as in the QB4 ward: the past leader will be solitary in his unit and supervised by a corrections officer each time he goes out.

“The objective is to avert any problems whatsoever, so we need to prevent him from coming into contact with any inmates,” a prison source revealed. “The most straightforward and best method is to send Nicolas Sarkozy straight to isolation.”

Cell Conditions

Both solitary and VIP rooms are the same to those in other parts in the jail, roughly approximately 10 sq metres, with window coverings created to restrict communication, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower, WC, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served regular meals but will additionally have the ability to the commissary, where he can acquire food to make his own meals, as well as to a small solitary exercise yard, a fitness room and the book collection. He can rent a cooling unit for €7.50 a monthly and a television for 14.15 euros.

Controlled Interactions

Besides three permitted visits a each week, he will primarily be on his own – a privilege in La Santé, which despite its recent upgrades is operating at roughly twice its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s prisons are the third most congested in the EU bloc.

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly protested his innocence, has declared he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to jail but escapes to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally taking noise blockers because prison can be noisy at nighttime, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of spending time in jail and intends to use it to compose a manuscript.

Uncertain Duration

It is unclear, however, for how long he will actually stay in the prison: his attorneys have lodged for his early release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a potential of flight, reoffending or witness-tampering to validate his further imprisonment.

France's jurists have proposed he might be released in less than a month.