What to Expect Sarkozy in the La Santé Facility and What Belongings Did He Bring?
Possibly France’s most notorious jail, La Santé – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five-year incarceration for illegal conspiracy to solicit election financing from the Libyan government – remains the sole surviving prison within the French capital's boundaries.
Situated in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it first opened in 1867 and hosted of no fewer than 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partially closed for refurbishment in 2014, the prison resumed operations in 2019 and houses over 1,100 detainees.
Renowned former inmates comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Protected Wing for High-Profile Prisoners
High-profile or endangered prisoners are usually held in the prison's QB4 unit for “vulnerable people” – the dubbed “premium block” – in solitary cells, rather than the typical three-person rooms, and separated during exercise periods for security reasons.
Located on the ground floor, the ward has a set of uniform cells and a private recreation area so inmates are not forced to interact with other prisoners – while they are still subject to calls, jeers and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.
Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. Actually, circumstances are largely identical as in the QB4 ward: the past leader will be solitary in his unit and escorted by a guard each time he exits.
“The objective is to prevent any problems at all, so we must block him from coming into contact with any inmates,” a source within the facility commented. “The most straightforward and most effective approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”
Living Quarters
Both isolation and protected cells are identical to those elsewhere in the prison, averaging approximately 10 square meters, with window coverings designed to restrict interaction, a bed, a writing table, a shower unit, WC, and fixed-line phone with pre-set numbers.
Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have access to the prison store, where he can purchase groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary exercise yard, a fitness room and the prison library. He can pay for a cooling unit for 7.50 euros a month and a TV for fourteen euros fifteen.
Controlled Interactions
Apart from three authorized meetings a week, he will mostly be alone – a privilege in the facility, which in spite of its recent upgrades is running at about twice its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. France’s prisons are the third most overcrowded in the EU bloc.
Items Brought
Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his non-guilt, has declared he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.
Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally taking noise blockers because the facility can be loud at during the night, and several sweaters, because units can be cold. Sarkozy has said he is fearless of spending time in jail and aims to utilize the time to write a manuscript.
Release Prospects
It is unclear, nevertheless, for how long he will actually remain in the facility: his legal team have lodged for his premature release, and an reviewing judge will have to prove a potential of flight, repeat offenses or witness-tampering to warrant his further imprisonment.
France's legal experts have indicated he may be freed within a month.