What to Expect the Former President in La Santé Prison and What Personal Items Has He Taken?
Maybe the nation's most fabled prison, the La Santé prison – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year jail term for unlawful collusion to obtain campaign funds from Libya – is the last remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.
Situated in the south part of Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it was inaugurated in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the prison reopened half a decade later and houses in excess of 1,100 inmates.
Renowned ex- detainees include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Special Treatment for Notable Prisoners
High-profile or at-risk detainees are generally held in the prison's QB4 ward for “protected persons” – the so-called “premium block” – in single cells, rather than the usual three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during outdoor activities for protection purposes.
Located on the initial level, the ward has nineteen similar cells and a private exercise yard so prisoners are not forced to mingle with fellow inmates – while they are still exposed to whistles, jeers and smartphone photos from nearby cells.
Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a isolated area. Actually, the environment are much the same as in the protected unit: the former president will be solitary in his cell and escorted by a corrections officer each time he goes out.
“The objective is to avoid any problems at all, so we have to prevent him from encountering other prisoners,” a source within the facility revealed. “The easiest and most efficient approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to solitary confinement.”
Living Quarters
Both solitary and VIP rooms are the same to those elsewhere in the jail, roughly approximately 10 sq metres, with coverings on windows intended to limit communication, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower unit, WC, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.
Sarkozy is provided with typical prison food but will additionally have the option to the commissary, where he can purchase items to prepare himself, as well as to a individual recreation area, a gym and the prison library. He can pay for a cooling unit for seven euros fifty a month and a television for €14.15.
Restricted Visits
In addition to three permitted visits a per week, he will mainly be on his own – a luxury in the prison, which notwithstanding its recent upgrades is functioning at roughly twice its intended capacity of 657 inmates. France’s correctional facilities are the third most packed in the EU bloc.
Prison Supplies
Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his non-guilt, has declared he will be taking with him a account of Jesus Christ and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is given a sentence to prison but escapes to take revenge.
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally bringing earplugs because the facility can be noisy at during the night, and several sweaters, because rooms can be chilly. Sarkozy has said he is not scared of being in prison and aims to utilize the time to write a book.
Possible Early Release
The duration is unknown, nevertheless, how long he will actually stay in the facility: his legal team have lodged for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will need to demonstrate a chance of escaping, reoffending or witness-tampering to validate his further imprisonment.
France's legal experts have proposed he could be out before a month passes.