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Perhaps the nation's most fabled correctional facility, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from the Libyan government – is the sole surviving prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Found in the southern Montparnasse district of the city, it was inaugurated in 1867 and was the scene of a minimum of 40 capital punishments, the most recent in 1972. Partially shut down for renovation in 2014, the institution reopened five years later and accommodates over 1,100 detainees.

Renowned past detainees encompass poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or endangered prisoners are usually held in the jail’s QB4 unit for “vulnerable people” – the often called “VIP section” – in individual cells, not the typical three-inmate cells, and separated during outdoor activities for safety concerns.

Positioned on the initial level, the ward has a set of uniform cells and a dedicated recreation area so detainees are not forced to interact with other detainees – while they remain vulnerable to shouts, jeers and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.

Mainly for that reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. Practically, conditions are largely identical as in QB4: the former president will be solitary in his unit and supervised by a guard whenever he exits.

“The aim is to avoid any problems whatsoever, so we must block him from meeting fellow detainees,” a source within the facility commented. “The easiest and most effective solution is to send Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Cell Conditions

Both isolation and protected cells are similar to those in other parts in the jail, roughly about 10 sq metres, with window coverings created to limit interaction, a bed, a writing table, a shower, toilet, and landline telephone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy is provided with standard meals but will additionally have the ability to the commissary, where he can purchase food to make his own meals, as well as to a small solitary recreation area, a gym and the book collection. He can pay for a cooling unit for 7.50 euros a month and a TV for 14.15 euros.

Restricted Visits

Besides three permitted visits a per week, he will primarily be alone – a luxury in the facility, which notwithstanding its recent upgrades is running at about double its intended capacity of 657 detainees. The country's jails are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his innocence, has declared he will be taking with him a life story of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but breaks out to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also bringing hearing protection because the jail can be noisy at during the night, and a few jumpers, because cells can be cool. Sarkozy has said he is not scared of being in jail and plans to make use of the period to author a manuscript.

Release Prospects

The duration is unknown, though, for how long he will in fact be housed in the facility: his lawyers have already filed for his premature release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a chance of absconding, reoffending or witness-tampering to warrant his continued detention.

French jurists have suggested he might be released before a month passes.