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Maybe France’s most fabled correctional facility, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year jail term for illegal conspiracy to raise election financing from the Libyan government – remains the last remaining prison within the Paris city limits.

Located in the south part of Montparnasse area of the capital, it first opened in 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 capital punishments, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for upgrades in 2014, the facility reopened in 2019 and accommodates over 1,100 prisoners.

Well-known past inmates include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and political figure Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Protected Wing for High-Profile Prisoners

Notable or at-risk detainees are generally held in the jail’s QB4 ward for “individuals at risk” – the often called “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, rather than the typical triple-occupancy cells, and isolated during exercise periods for safety concerns.

Located on the initial level, the section has a set of uniform units and a dedicated recreation area so inmates are not required to mix with fellow inmates – while they continue to be subject to calls, insults and mobile snapshots from nearby cells.

Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. In reality, conditions are much the same as in QB4: the past leader will be by himself in his cell and supervised by a prison officer each time he exits.

“The aim is to avert any issues whatsoever, so we have to block him from coming into contact with fellow detainees,” a prison source stated. “The simplest and most efficient method is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to isolation.”

Accommodation Details

Both solitary and protected units are identical to those in other parts in the jail, measuring approximately eleven square meters, with window blinds intended to reduce interaction, a bed, a writing table, a shower, lavatory, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will additionally have access to the prison store, where he can purchase food to cook for himself, as well as to a individual outdoor space, a fitness room and the prison library. He can lease a refrigerator for €7.50 a per month and a television for €14.15.

Restricted Visits

Apart from three authorized meetings a per week, he will primarily be by himself – a privilege in La Santé, which in spite of its modernization is functioning at approximately twice its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's correctional facilities are the third most overcrowded in the EU.

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy, who has repeatedly maintained his non-guilt, has stated he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but breaks out to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was additionally packing noise blockers because the jail can be noisy at night, and several sweaters, because cells can be cold. Sarkozy has commented he is unafraid of being in jail and intends to make use of the period to author a book.

Uncertain Duration

It remains uncertain, nevertheless, the length of time he will actually be housed in La Santé: his lawyers have submitted for his early release, and an appeals judge will need to demonstrate a chance of absconding, repeat offenses or interfering with witnesses to justify his continued detention.

French law specialists have proposed he could be out in less than a month.