What to Expect the Former President in the La Santé Facility and What Personal Items Has He Taken?
Possibly France’s most legendary correctional facility, the La Santé prison – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year incarceration for illegal conspiracy to solicit election financing from the Libyan government – remains the only remaining prison within the Paris city limits.
Situated in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in the year 1867 and was the site of at least 40 executions, the most recent in 1972. Partly shut down for renovation in 2014, the prison resumed operations half a decade later and accommodates over 1,100 prisoners.
Famous former prisoners comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Special Treatment for Notable Inmates
Notable or at-risk detainees are usually accommodated in the jail’s QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the dubbed “premium block” – in solitary cells, not the typical three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during exercise periods for security reasons.
Situated on the initial level, the unit has 19 identical cells and a dedicated recreation area so inmates are not forced to mix with other detainees – while they are still subject to calls, jeers and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.
Mainly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a isolated area. Practically, the environment are much the same as in the protected unit: the former president will be solitary in his cell and accompanied by a corrections officer each time he exits.
“The objective is to avoid any incidents whatsoever, so we need to stop him from encountering other prisoners,” an insider revealed. “The easiest and best method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to isolation.”
Living Quarters
Both solitary and protected units are identical to those elsewhere in the institution, roughly about 10 square meters, with window blinds designed to reduce interaction, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower unit, toilet, and stationary phone with pre-set numbers.
Sarkozy is provided with typical prison food but will additionally have the option to the canteen, where he can buy food to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a exercise room and the library. He can pay for a refrigerator for €7.50 a per month and a television for €14.15.
Limited Social Contact
Besides three allowed visits a week, he will primarily be by himself – a privilege in the prison, which despite its recent upgrades is operating at approximately twice its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's correctional facilities are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.
Personal Belongings
Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his innocence, has said he will be bringing with him a account of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to prison but flees to seek vengeance.
Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also packing hearing protection because the jail can be loud at during the night, and several sweaters, because units can be cool. Sarkozy has stated he is unafraid of spending time in jail and plans to use it to compose a book.
Uncertain Duration
It remains uncertain, however, for how long he will really stay in the facility: his lawyers have lodged for his early release, and an reviewing judge will have to prove a risk of escaping, further crimes or witness-tampering to justify his ongoing incarceration.
French law specialists have proposed he could be out before a month passes.
