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Perhaps France’s most legendary jail, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year prison sentence for unlawful collusion to obtain political donations from Libya – stands as the last remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Situated in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it was inaugurated in 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 capital punishments, the last in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the prison resumed operations five years later and houses more than 1,100 inmates.

Well-known former prisoners include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the businessman and political figure Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Prisoners

Notable or at-risk inmates are usually accommodated in the jail’s QB4 ward for “vulnerable people” – the so-called “VIP quarters” – in single cells, not the usual triple-occupancy rooms, and isolated during yard time for safety concerns.

Located on the ground floor, the section has nineteen similar cells and a private outdoor space so prisoners are not required to mix with other prisoners – while they are still subject to shouts, taunts and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Mostly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a isolated area. Practically, conditions are very similar as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his cell and accompanied by a corrections officer whenever he goes out.

“The aim is to prevent any issues at all, so we have to stop him from meeting other prisoners,” a source within the facility revealed. “The simplest and best approach is to send Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to isolation.”

Accommodation Details

Both isolation and VIP rooms are the same to those in other parts in the jail, averaging around eleven square meters, with window blinds created to restrict contact, a bed, a small desk, a shower, WC, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served regular meals but will also have the ability to the prison store, where he can acquire groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a private exercise yard, a gym and the prison library. He can lease a refrigerator for €7.50 a per month and a TV for €14.15.

Limited Social Contact

In addition to three permitted visits a each week, he will mainly be by himself – a luxury in the prison, which despite its modernization is running at about double its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's jails are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly maintained his innocence, has declared he will be bringing with him a life story of Jesus Christ and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but flees to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally bringing earplugs because prison can be disruptive at night, and several sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has stated he is unafraid of serving time in prison and aims to make use of the period to write a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It is unclear, nevertheless, the length of time he will actually remain in La Santé: his lawyers have already filed for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will have to prove a risk of absconding, reoffending or interfering with witnesses to justify his further imprisonment.

France's law specialists have suggested he may be freed before a month passes.