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Perhaps France’s most legendary correctional facility, the La Santé prison – where ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year incarceration for criminal conspiracy to obtain election financing from the Libyan government – remains the last remaining prison within the French capital's boundaries.

Located in the south part of Montparnasse area of the city, it opened in 1867 and hosted of at least 40 death penalties, the final one in 1972. Partially closed for refurbishment in 2014, the facility reopened half a decade later and accommodates over 1,100 prisoners.

Famous past detainees comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and political figure Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for Prominent Prisoners

Prominent or vulnerable inmates are typically placed in the jail’s QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the dubbed “premium block” – in individual cells, not the typical three-person units, and isolated during outdoor activities for security reasons.

Located on the ground floor, the unit has 19 identical rooms and a private outdoor space so prisoners are not obliged to mingle with fellow inmates – while they remain vulnerable to calls, insults and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. Actually, conditions are very similar as in QB4: the ex-president will be alone in his cell and escorted by a guard each time he goes out.

“The goal is to prevent any issues whatsoever, so we have to stop him from encountering any inmates,” a prison source revealed. “The easiest and most effective approach is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Cell Conditions

Each of the isolation and protected units are similar to those elsewhere in the prison, averaging around eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to limit interaction, a bed, a small desk, a shower unit, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy will receive typical prison food but will additionally have access to the canteen, where he can acquire items to prepare himself, as well as to a individual exercise yard, a exercise room and the book collection. He can lease a cooling unit for €7.50 a per month and a television for 14.15 euros.

Controlled Interactions

In addition to three permitted visits a each week, he will primarily be by himself – a luxury in La Santé, which despite its modernization is functioning at roughly twice its designed capacity of 657 detainees. France’s prisons are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Personal Belongings

Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his innocence, has stated he will be bringing with him a account of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is given a sentence to jail but breaks out to seek vengeance.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, noted he was additionally packing earplugs because the jail can be disruptive at night, and multiple sweaters, because units can be cold. Sarkozy has commented he is not scared of spending time in jail and intends to use it to compose a manuscript.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, though, for how long he will actually stay in the facility: his legal team have lodged for his early release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a risk of absconding, repeat offenses or witness-tampering to justify his ongoing incarceration.

France's jurists have suggested he may be freed in less than a month.