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Possibly the nation's most notorious jail, La Santé – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year incarceration for illegal conspiracy to solicit election financing from Libya – is the last remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Located in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it first opened in 1867 and was the site of a minimum of 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the institution reopened five years later and accommodates in excess of 1,100 detainees.

Famous ex- detainees include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or endangered prisoners are generally placed in the prison's QB4 section for “individuals at risk” – the often called “VIP quarters” – in single cells, rather than the usual triple-occupancy cells, and isolated during outdoor activities for security reasons.

Positioned on the ground floor, the section has nineteen similar rooms and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not forced to interact with other prisoners – even though they remain exposed to calls, taunts and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.

Mostly for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. In reality, the environment are very similar as in the protected unit: the ex-president will be by himself in his cell and supervised by a prison officer whenever he exits.

“The goal is to prevent any incidents whatsoever, so we must stop him from meeting any inmates,” an insider stated. “The simplest and most efficient approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”

Living Quarters

Each of the isolation and VIP rooms are the same to those elsewhere in the prison, measuring about eleven square meters, with coverings on windows intended to limit communication, a bed, a writing table, a shower, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served regular meals but will also have access to the commissary, where he can buy food to cook for himself, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a gym and the prison library. He can lease a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a month and a television set for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

In addition to three authorized meetings a each week, he will mainly be by himself – an advantage in La Santé, which in spite of its recent renovation is operating at about twice its intended capacity of 657 detainees. The country's correctional facilities are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly maintained his non-guilt, has declared he will be taking with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to prison but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally taking hearing protection because the facility can be noisy at nighttime, and a few jumpers, because rooms can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is not scared of serving time in jail and intends to make use of the period to author a publication.

Uncertain Duration

It is unclear, however, for how long he will in fact remain in the facility: his lawyers have submitted for his early release, and an reviewing judge will need to demonstrate a risk of escaping, reoffending or witness-tampering to justify his ongoing incarceration.

France's law specialists have indicated he could be out before a month passes.