What to Expect the Former President in the La Santé Facility and What Belongings Did He Bring?
Perhaps France’s most notorious jail, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy is now serving a five year incarceration for unlawful collusion to raise political donations from Libya – stands as the only remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.
Found in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the city, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and hosted of no fewer than 40 capital punishments, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the institution resumed operations five years later and houses over 1,100 detainees.
Famous ex- detainees include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime 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
Prominent or at-risk prisoners are usually placed in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the so-called “VIP section” – in single cells, rather than the typical three-inmate cells, and isolated during yard time for safety concerns.
Situated on the initial level, the ward has 19 identical rooms and a dedicated exercise yard so inmates are not required to mingle with other detainees – although they remain vulnerable to whistles, jeers and cellphone pictures from neighboring units.
Mostly for this reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the isolation ward, which is in a distinct block. Actually, conditions are much the same as in QB4: the past leader will be by himself in his room and escorted by a guard each time he leaves it.
“The objective is to avert any issues whatsoever, so we must stop him from meeting other prisoners,” a prison source commented. “The easiest and most effective solution is to send Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to solitary confinement.”
Cell Conditions
Both isolation and VIP units are the same to those elsewhere in the prison, measuring around eleven square meters, with coverings on windows created to limit interaction, a sleeping cot, a small desk, a shower unit, WC, and landline telephone with pre-recorded numbers.
Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will additionally have the ability to the prison store, where he can purchase food to prepare himself, as well as to a private recreation area, a exercise room and the prison library. He can rent a cooling unit for seven euros fifty a monthly and a television for €14.15.
Restricted Visits
Apart from three permitted visits a each week, he will mainly be on his own – a luxury in La Santé, which notwithstanding its recent renovation is running at about twice its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. France’s correctional facilities are the third most congested in the EU bloc.
Prison Supplies
Sarkozy, who has steadfastly asserted his non-guilt, has stated he will be taking with him a life story of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to jail but breaks out to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also packing noise blockers because the facility can be disruptive at nighttime, and a few jumpers, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of being in prison and plans to make use of the period to write a manuscript.
Uncertain Duration
It is unclear, however, how long he will really stay in La Santé: his lawyers have lodged for his premature release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a chance of flight, repeat offenses or witness-tampering to justify his continued detention.
France's jurists have indicated he could be out before a month passes.
