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Perhaps France’s most fabled jail, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five-year jail term for illegal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from Libya – remains the last remaining prison within the French capital's boundaries.

Situated in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 executions, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the institution reopened half a decade later and holds more than 1,100 detainees.

Famous past prisoners encompass poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Notable Inmates

Notable or endangered prisoners are typically held in the jail’s QB4 section for “individuals at risk” – the so-called “VIP quarters” – in single cells, rather than the usual three-inmate rooms, and separated during yard time for protection purposes.

Positioned on the first floor, the unit has 19 identical cells and a private recreation area so prisoners are not forced to interact with other detainees – although they remain exposed to whistles, jeers and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.

Mainly for this reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. Actually, the environment are largely identical as in QB4: the ex-president will be alone in his room and supervised by a guard every time he goes out.

“The goal is to avert any incidents whatsoever, so we must prevent him from meeting any inmates,” an insider stated. “The most straightforward and most efficient method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and protected units are the same to those elsewhere in the institution, averaging about 10 sq metres, with window blinds created to limit interaction, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower, WC, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will additionally have the option to the prison store, where he can purchase items to make his own meals, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a exercise room and the library. He can pay for a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a per month and a TV for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three authorized meetings a each week, he will mainly be by himself – a privilege in the prison, which notwithstanding its modernization is operating at about twice its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s correctional facilities are the third most congested in the EU.

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his innocence, has declared he will be carrying with him a life story of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to prison but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally taking earplugs because the facility can be noisy at night, and multiple sweaters, because units can be cool. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of serving time in jail and intends to utilize the time to write a publication.

Release Prospects

It is unclear, though, how long he will actually be housed in the prison: his legal team have lodged for his early release, and an appeals judge will need to demonstrate a risk of absconding, further crimes or witness-tampering to warrant his continued detention.

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