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Maybe France’s most legendary prison, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year incarceration for illegal conspiracy to solicit political donations from Libya – is the last remaining prison within the city of Paris.

Located in the south part of Montparnasse neighborhood of the city, it opened in 1867 and hosted of no fewer than 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the facility resumed operations five years later and holds in excess of 1,100 inmates.

Well-known former detainees encompass poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Notable Inmates

Notable or endangered detainees are typically placed in the prison's QB4 section for “individuals at risk” – the often called “VIP quarters” – in solitary cells, rather than the typical three-person units, and kept alone during outdoor activities for protection purposes.

Located on the ground floor, the section has nineteen similar rooms and a dedicated exercise yard so detainees are not forced to mix with other prisoners – although they remain subject to shouts, jeers and cellphone pictures from adjacent cells.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. Actually, the environment are very similar as in the protected unit: the former president will be solitary in his cell and accompanied by a corrections officer each time he goes out.

“The aim is to prevent any incidents at all, so we have to prevent him from coming into contact with fellow detainees,” an insider stated. “The simplest and most efficient solution is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Each of the solitary and protected cells are the same to those in other parts in the institution, averaging approximately eleven square meters, with window blinds intended to reduce interaction, a bed, a small desk, a shower, lavatory, and landline telephone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will additionally have the ability to the canteen, where he can acquire groceries to cook for himself, as well as to a small solitary recreation area, a fitness room and the book collection. He can lease a cooling unit for seven euros fifty a per month and a television for €14.15.

Controlled Interactions

Apart from three authorized meetings a per week, he will mainly be by himself – a luxury in the prison, which notwithstanding its recent renovation is operating at approximately double its planned occupancy of 657 prisoners. The country's prisons are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly protested his innocence, has declared he will be bringing with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was additionally bringing hearing protection because the jail can be noisy at during the night, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be cool. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of being in prison and aims to use it to author a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, nevertheless, for how long he will really stay in the facility: his attorneys have lodged for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a chance of flight, reoffending or witness-tampering to justify his continued detention.

French legal experts have proposed he might be released in less than a month.