What Awaits the Former President in La Santé Prison and What Personal Items Did He Bring?
Perhaps France’s most notorious correctional facility, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to raise election financing from the Libyan government – stands as the last remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.
Located in the south part of Montparnasse district of the city, it opened in 1867 and was the scene of a minimum of 40 death penalties, the final one in 1972. Partly shut down for refurbishment in 2014, the institution reopened half a decade later and accommodates more than 1,100 inmates.
Famous ex- inmates encompass the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized 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 Notable Prisoners
Notable or vulnerable inmates are typically accommodated in the jail’s QB4 unit for “vulnerable people” – the dubbed “premium block” – in individual cells, rather than the typical triple-occupancy rooms, and kept alone during exercise periods for security reasons.
Located on the first floor, the unit has nineteen similar cells and a reserved outdoor space so inmates are not forced to mingle with other detainees – even though they continue to be exposed to calls, insults and smartphone photos from neighboring units.
Mainly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a distinct block. Practically, the environment are much the same as in the protected unit: the past leader will be solitary in his room and supervised by a guard every time he leaves it.
“The goal is to avoid any incidents whatsoever, so we have to prevent him from encountering fellow detainees,” a source within the facility commented. “The easiest and most efficient solution is to send Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to isolation.”
Accommodation Details
Both solitary and protected units are similar to those elsewhere in the prison, measuring approximately 10 square meters, with window blinds created to restrict contact, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower, lavatory, and stationary phone with authorized contacts only.
Sarkozy will receive regular meals but will also have access to the canteen, where he can buy items to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a fitness room and the prison library. He can lease a fridge for 7.50 euros a monthly and a television set for €14.15.
Limited Social Contact
In addition to three allowed visits a each week, he will mainly be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which notwithstanding its modernization is running at roughly twice its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's jails are the third most packed in the EU.
Prison Supplies
Sarkozy, who has consistently asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a account of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is sentenced to prison but flees to get retribution.
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also taking earplugs because prison can be disruptive at night, and a few jumpers, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has stated he is not scared of serving time in jail and aims to utilize the time to compose a manuscript.
Possible Early Release
The duration is unknown, however, the length of time he will really stay in the facility: his lawyers have already filed for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a potential of absconding, reoffending or influencing testimony to justify his ongoing incarceration.
France's legal experts have proposed he might be released in less than a month.
