What Lies Ahead the Former President in the La Santé Facility and What Personal Items Has He Taken?
Perhaps France’s most notorious prison, the La Santé prison – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year jail term for illegal conspiracy to obtain campaign funds from the Libyan government – is the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.
Found in the south part of Montparnasse district of the city, it opened in the year 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 capital punishments, the final one in 1972. Partially shut down for upgrades in 2014, the facility reopened half a decade later and houses in excess of 1,100 prisoners.
Famous past detainees encompass poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and political figure Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.
Special Treatment for Prominent Inmates
Prominent or vulnerable prisoners are generally accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “protected persons” – the often called “premium block” – in single cells, not the standard triple-occupancy units, and isolated during exercise periods for protection purposes.
Located on the initial level, the ward has 19 identical rooms and a private recreation area so prisoners are not required to mix with fellow inmates – although they are still exposed to whistles, jeers and cellphone pictures from neighboring units.
Mainly for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the isolation ward, which is in a separate wing. In reality, circumstances are much the same as in QB4: the past leader will be solitary in his room and escorted by a guard every time he goes out.
“The goal is to prevent any issues at all, so we must stop him from encountering any inmates,” an insider commented. “The easiest and most effective solution is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to solitary confinement.”
Accommodation Details
Both solitary and protected rooms are identical to those in other parts in the prison, measuring about 10 square meters, with coverings on windows intended to reduce interaction, a bed, a compact desk, a shower, lavatory, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.
Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will also have the option to the canteen, where he can acquire groceries to cook for himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a exercise room and the prison library. He can lease a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a monthly and a television for fourteen euros fifteen.
Limited Social Contact
Besides three permitted visits a per week, he will primarily be by himself – an advantage in the prison, which notwithstanding its modernization is running at roughly twice its intended capacity of 657 prisoners. France’s jails are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.
Prison Supplies
Sarkozy, who has repeatedly asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is condemned to prison but breaks out to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also taking hearing protection because the facility can be loud at nighttime, and several sweaters, because units can be cold. Sarkozy has commented he is not scared of being in jail and intends to make use of the period to write a publication.
Uncertain Duration
The duration is unknown, however, the length of time he will really stay in the prison: his lawyers have already filed for his conditional release, and an reviewing judge will must establish a potential of escaping, reoffending or influencing testimony to validate his further imprisonment.
French jurists have suggested he could be out within a month.
