What to Expect Sarkozy in the La Santé Facility and What Belongings Did He Bring?

Perhaps France’s most legendary correctional facility, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year jail term for unlawful collusion to raise campaign funds from Libya – stands as the sole surviving prison inside the Paris city limits.

Found in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the site of at least 40 executions, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for refurbishment in 2014, the institution resumed operations in 2019 and houses over 1,100 inmates.

Renowned past prisoners include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for Notable Prisoners

High-profile or endangered detainees are usually accommodated in the jail’s QB4 unit for “individuals at risk” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, rather than the typical triple-occupancy rooms, and separated during yard time for security reasons.

Located on the ground floor, the unit has 19 identical rooms and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not required to interact with other prisoners – while they continue to be vulnerable to calls, jeers and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.

Mostly for this reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the isolation ward, which is in a distinct block. Actually, the environment are much the same as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his unit and accompanied by a prison officer whenever he leaves it.

“The objective is to prevent any issues whatsoever, so we need to block him from coming into contact with other prisoners,” an insider stated. “The easiest and most effective method is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and VIP rooms are identical to those in other parts in the jail, measuring around eleven square meters, with window coverings designed to restrict communication, a bed, a compact desk, a shower, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have the ability to the prison store, where he can buy food to make his own meals, as well as to a individual outdoor space, a exercise room and the prison library. He can lease a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a monthly and a TV for €14.15.

Limited Social Contact

In addition to three authorized meetings a week, he will primarily be alone – a luxury in the facility, which notwithstanding its recent renovation is running at about twice its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's jails are the third most congested in the European Union.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly protested his innocence, has declared he will be bringing with him a account of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally packing earplugs because prison can be loud at nighttime, and several sweaters, because units can be chilly. Sarkozy has stated he is unafraid of serving time in prison and aims to use it to author a publication.

Possible Early Release

It remains uncertain, nevertheless, the length of time he will really remain in the facility: his attorneys have already filed for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will have to prove a potential of escaping, repeat offenses or influencing testimony to justify his further imprisonment.

French jurists have suggested he could be out before a month passes.