What Awaits Sarkozy in La Santé Prison and What Belongings Has He Taken?
Perhaps the nation's most legendary prison, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy to solicit election financing from the Libyan government – stands as the last remaining prison within the French capital's boundaries.
Found in the south part of Montparnasse area of the capital, it opened in 1867 and was the site of a minimum of 40 capital punishments, the last in 1972. Partly shut down for renovation in 2014, the institution reopened half a decade later and houses over 1,100 detainees.
Famous past inmates comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue 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 model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Special Treatment for Notable Prisoners
High-profile or endangered detainees are generally accommodated in the jail’s QB4 ward for “vulnerable people” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in single cells, rather than the standard three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during exercise periods for security reasons.
Located on the initial level, the section has nineteen similar units and a dedicated exercise yard so prisoners are not obliged to mingle with other detainees – even though they remain exposed to calls, taunts and mobile snapshots from neighboring units.
Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. In reality, the environment are very similar as in QB4: the ex-president will be solitary in his unit and supervised by a guard each time he goes out.
“The objective is to avert any incidents whatsoever, so we have to block him from meeting fellow detainees,” a source within the facility commented. “The easiest and most effective approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to segregation.”
Living Quarters
Each of the isolation and protected cells are similar to those elsewhere in the jail, roughly approximately eleven square meters, with window coverings designed to limit contact, a bed, a small desk, a shower unit, lavatory, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.
Sarkozy will be served standard meals but will additionally have access to the prison store, where he can buy food to cook for himself, as well as to a individual recreation area, a exercise room and the library. He can lease a fridge for €7.50 a per month and a television set for 14.15 euros.
Controlled Interactions
Apart from three allowed visits a per week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in the prison, which in spite of its modernization is operating at approximately twice its designed capacity of 657 prisoners. The country's prisons are the third most congested in the EU bloc.
Personal Belongings
Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be carrying with him a account of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but flees 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 units can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is fearless of serving time in jail and plans to utilize the time to write a publication.
Release Prospects
It is unclear, though, how long he will actually be housed in the facility: his attorneys have submitted for his early release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a potential of absconding, further crimes or influencing testimony to justify his further imprisonment.
France's law specialists have indicated he might be released before a month passes.
