What to Expect the Former President in the La Santé Facility and What Belongings Has He Taken?
Perhaps France’s most notorious prison, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to raise political donations from Libya – is the last remaining prison within the city of Paris.
Located in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it first opened in the year 1867 and was the site of no fewer than 40 executions, the last in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the prison resumed operations half a decade later and accommodates more than 1,100 inmates.
Well-known former detainees encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
VIP Quarters for High-Profile Prisoners
High-profile or endangered detainees are usually placed in the prison's QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, not the typical three-person rooms, and kept alone during yard time for security reasons.
Situated on the initial level, the section has 19 identical cells and a dedicated recreation area so detainees are not obliged to interact with other prisoners – even though they remain exposed to shouts, insults and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.
Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a isolated area. Actually, circumstances are largely identical as in the QB4 ward: the ex-president will be by himself in his cell and accompanied by a guard each time he leaves it.
“The goal is to prevent any problems whatsoever, so we must prevent him from encountering other prisoners,” an insider revealed. “The simplest and most effective approach is to send Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”
Cell Conditions
Each of the isolation and VIP cells are the same to those elsewhere in the institution, roughly approximately 10 square meters, with window coverings created to limit interaction, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower, WC, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.
Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have access to the prison store, where he can acquire groceries to cook for himself, as well as to a small solitary exercise yard, a fitness room and the prison library. He can pay for a fridge for 7.50 euros a per month and a TV for fourteen euros fifteen.
Limited Social Contact
In addition to three allowed visits a per week, he will mainly be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which in spite of its modernization is functioning at about twice its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. France’s correctional facilities are the third most packed in the EU.
Personal Belongings
Sarkozy, who has repeatedly maintained his non-guilt, has stated he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is condemned to jail but breaks out to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also bringing hearing protection because the jail can be loud at during the night, and multiple sweaters, because units can be chilly. Sarkozy has stated he is fearless of being in jail and plans to make use of the period to author a book.
Release Prospects
The duration is unknown, though, how long he will in fact remain in the facility: his legal team have already filed for his premature release, and an reviewing judge will have to prove a potential of flight, further crimes or interfering with witnesses to validate his continued detention.
France's jurists have proposed he might be released before a month passes.
