What to Expect the Former President in the La Santé Facility and What Personal Items Has He Taken?
Maybe the nation's most fabled correctional facility, La Santé – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to raise political donations from Libya – remains the only remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.
Located in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it was inaugurated in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 death penalties, the most recent in 1972. Partly shut down for upgrades in 2014, the prison resumed operations five years later and houses over 1,100 inmates.
Well-known past inmates comprise poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Protected Wing for High-Profile Inmates
Notable or at-risk prisoners are typically held in the prison's QB4 section for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP section” – in solitary cells, rather than the standard three-person units, and isolated during yard time for safety concerns.
Positioned on the ground floor, the ward has nineteen similar cells and a reserved exercise yard so inmates are not obliged to mingle with fellow inmates – although they are still exposed to whistles, jeers and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.
Mainly for that reason, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. Actually, conditions are much the same as in the QB4 ward: the past leader will be solitary in his unit and escorted by a prison officer each time he leaves it.
“The goal is to prevent any problems at all, so we must stop him from encountering any inmates,” a source within the facility commented. “The most straightforward and most efficient method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to isolation.”
Living Quarters
Both solitary and protected units are identical to those elsewhere in the jail, measuring about eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to restrict contact, a sleeping cot, a compact desk, a shower, WC, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.
Sarkozy is provided with typical prison food but will also have access to the commissary, where he can buy items to prepare himself, as well as to a private recreation area, a gym and the book collection. He can rent a fridge for €7.50 a per month and a television for €14.15.
Limited Social Contact
Apart from three authorized meetings a each week, he will mostly be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which despite its recent renovation is operating at roughly double its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. France’s prisons are the third most packed in the EU bloc.
Items Brought
Sarkozy, who has consistently asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be carrying with him a life story of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is sentenced to prison but escapes to get retribution.
Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was also taking earplugs because prison can be noisy at during the night, and multiple sweaters, because units can be cold. Sarkozy has stated he is fearless of serving time in prison and aims to utilize the time to compose a publication.
Possible Early Release
It is unclear, though, for how long he will really remain in the facility: his attorneys have already filed for his early release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a potential of absconding, reoffending or influencing testimony to warrant his ongoing incarceration.
France's jurists have suggested he might be released in less than a month.
