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Maybe the nation's most legendary prison, the La Santé prison – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year prison sentence for unlawful collusion to solicit election financing from the Libyan government – remains the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse district of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the site of at least 40 capital punishments, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the prison reopened half a decade later and holds more than 1,100 inmates.

Famous past detainees include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for High-Profile Prisoners

High-profile or at-risk detainees are typically accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “vulnerable people” – the so-called “VIP section” – in individual cells, rather than the typical three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during exercise periods for protection purposes.

Situated on the initial level, the unit has a set of uniform rooms and a reserved exercise yard so prisoners are not required to mingle with fellow inmates – even though they are still subject to shouts, taunts and mobile snapshots from neighboring units.

Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. In reality, circumstances are much the same as in the QB4 ward: the past leader will be alone in his room and accompanied by a corrections officer each time he exits.

“The objective is to avoid any issues at all, so we need to prevent him from meeting any inmates,” a source within the facility commented. “The simplest and most efficient solution is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Living Quarters

Both solitary and VIP cells are similar to those in other parts in the prison, measuring about eleven square meters, with window blinds intended to restrict contact, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower unit, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy will be served standard meals but will also have the option to the canteen, where he can acquire food to cook for himself, as well as to a individual exercise yard, a exercise room and the prison library. He can lease a cooling unit for €7.50 a monthly and a television set for fourteen euros fifteen.

Limited Social Contact

Besides three allowed visits a per week, he will mostly be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which in spite of its recent renovation is running at approximately twice its intended capacity of 657 inmates. France’s jails are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his innocence, 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 wrongly accused individual is condemned to jail but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also bringing hearing protection because prison can be noisy at during the night, and a few jumpers, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has said he is fearless of serving time in prison and intends to utilize the time to compose a publication.

Release Prospects

The duration is unknown, though, the length of time he will in fact be housed in the prison: his attorneys have submitted for his premature release, and an appeals judge will must establish a risk of escaping, reoffending or interfering with witnesses to validate his further imprisonment.

French jurists have proposed he could be out in less than a month.