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Possibly the nation's most fabled jail, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five-year jail term for unlawful collusion to solicit election financing from Libya – stands as the sole surviving prison within the Paris city limits.

Located in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the facility resumed operations half a decade later and holds more than 1,100 prisoners.

Renowned former inmates encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or at-risk prisoners are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the often called “VIP section” – in individual cells, rather than the typical triple-occupancy cells, and separated during yard time for security reasons.

Located on the initial level, the ward has nineteen similar units and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not forced to interact with other detainees – although they remain exposed to whistles, jeers and smartphone photos from nearby cells.

Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a distinct block. Actually, the environment are very similar as in the protected unit: the past leader will be alone in his cell and accompanied by a prison officer each time he goes out.

“The aim is to avoid any issues at all, so we have to stop him from meeting any inmates,” a prison source commented. “The most straightforward and most efficient approach is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Cell Conditions

Both solitary and VIP rooms are identical to those elsewhere in the jail, measuring around eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to reduce communication, a bed, a writing table, a shower, lavatory, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have access to the commissary, where he can buy food to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a exercise room and the prison library. He can pay for a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a per month and a television for fourteen euros fifteen.

Limited Social Contact

Besides three permitted visits a per week, he will mostly be on his own – a luxury in the prison, which in spite of its recent upgrades is operating at about double its designed capacity of 657 inmates. The country's jails are the third most congested in the EU.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly protested his innocence, has stated 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 wrongly accused individual is sentenced to jail but flees to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was also taking hearing protection because the facility can be noisy at night, and several sweaters, because units can be cool. Sarkozy has stated he is not scared of being in prison and aims to make use of the period to write a book.

Uncertain Duration

It is unclear, though, how long he will actually be housed in the prison: his lawyers have already filed for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will need to demonstrate a risk of flight, further crimes or interfering with witnesses to warrant his continued detention.

France's jurists have proposed he might be released within a month.