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Maybe the nation's most notorious jail, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has begun a five year incarceration for unlawful collusion to raise election financing from Libya – is the last remaining prison within the city of Paris.

Situated in the southern Montparnasse area of the capital, it opened in 1867 and hosted of at least 40 executions, the last in 1972. Partially closed for renovation in 2014, the institution resumed operations half a decade later and holds more than 1,100 detainees.

Renowned past prisoners include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the financial trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the terrorist from the 1970s Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for High-Profile Prisoners

Notable or at-risk inmates are typically accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “vulnerable people” – the often called “VIP quarters” – in solitary cells, not the typical three-inmate rooms, and isolated during outdoor activities for safety concerns.

Positioned on the first floor, the unit has nineteen similar units and a dedicated outdoor space so detainees are not required to mingle with other prisoners – although they remain exposed to calls, insults and smartphone photos from nearby cells.

Primarily for such concerns, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. In reality, the environment are very similar as in QB4: the former president will be alone in his cell and accompanied by a prison officer each time he leaves it.

“The goal is to avert any incidents whatsoever, so we have to block him from meeting fellow detainees,” an insider commented. “The easiest and best solution is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”

Accommodation Details

Both isolation and VIP rooms are similar to those elsewhere in the jail, roughly around 10 square meters, with window coverings designed to restrict communication, a bed, a writing table, a shower unit, lavatory, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy will receive typical prison food but will also have access to the commissary, where he can purchase items to make his own meals, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a gym and the book collection. He can rent a fridge for seven euros fifty a month and a television for fourteen euros fifteen.

Controlled Interactions

Besides three permitted visits a week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in La Santé, which in spite of its recent upgrades is running at approximately twice its designed capacity of 657 detainees. The country's prisons are the third most packed in the EU bloc.

Prison Supplies

Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his non-guilt, has said he will be carrying with him a account of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to prison but flees to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also bringing hearing protection because the jail can be noisy at night, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be cool. Sarkozy has stated he is not scared of spending time in prison and aims to utilize the time to compose a manuscript.

Uncertain Duration

It remains uncertain, however, the length of time he will really remain in the prison: his lawyers have already filed for his conditional release, and an appeals judge will need to demonstrate a risk of escaping, repeat offenses or interfering with witnesses to validate his further imprisonment.

French legal experts have suggested he may be freed in less than a month.