What Awaits the Former President in La Santé Prison and What Personal Items Did He Bring?
Possibly the nation's most notorious correctional facility, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to raise campaign funds from Libya – remains the only remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.
Found in the southern Montparnasse district of the capital, it opened in 1867 and was the site of at least 40 death penalties, the final one in 1972. Partially shut down for refurbishment in 2014, the prison reopened half a decade later and holds over 1,100 inmates.
Famous past inmates comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the businessman and political figure Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
VIP Quarters for High-Profile Prisoners
Prominent or at-risk inmates are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the often called “premium block” – in individual cells, not the usual triple-occupancy units, and separated during yard time for safety concerns.
Situated on the ground floor, the unit has a set of uniform units and a private recreation area so inmates are not forced to mingle with fellow inmates – although they continue to be subject to calls, jeers and mobile snapshots from neighboring units.
Mostly for that reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. Actually, circumstances are largely identical as in the protected unit: the former president will be solitary in his room and supervised by a corrections officer whenever he exits.
“The objective is to prevent any incidents whatsoever, so we have to stop him from coming into contact with other prisoners,” a source within the facility revealed. “The simplest and most effective solution is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to segregation.”
Cell Conditions
Both solitary and VIP units are identical to those elsewhere in the jail, measuring approximately 10 sq metres, with window coverings intended to limit interaction, a bed, a writing table, a shower unit, lavatory, and landline telephone with authorized contacts only.
Sarkozy is provided with typical prison food but will also have access to the prison store, where he can buy groceries to cook for himself, as well as to a private recreation area, a fitness room and the library. He can lease a fridge for seven euros fifty a per month and a television set for 14.15 euros.
Limited Social Contact
Apart from three permitted visits a per week, he will mainly be alone – a luxury in La Santé, which notwithstanding its modernization is operating at roughly double its planned occupancy of 657 inmates. France’s prisons are the third most congested in the European Union.
Items Brought
Sarkozy, who has consistently maintained his innocence, has stated he will be bringing with him a account of Jesus Christ and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is condemned to prison but flees to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally taking earplugs because the facility can be disruptive at night, and multiple sweaters, because rooms can be cool. Sarkozy has stated he is unafraid of being in jail and aims to use it to compose a book.
Release Prospects
It is unclear, nevertheless, for how long he will really remain in the prison: his legal team have already filed for his premature release, and an reviewing judge will need to demonstrate a risk of escaping, repeat offenses or witness-tampering to warrant his ongoing incarceration.
France's law specialists have proposed he might be released before a month passes.
