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Perhaps the nation's most fabled correctional facility, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year jail term for illegal conspiracy to solicit election financing from Libya – stands as the last remaining prison within the French capital's boundaries.

Located in the southern Montparnasse area of the city, it opened in the year 1867 and hosted of a minimum of 40 death penalties, the last in 1972. Partially shut down for renovation in 2014, the facility resumed operations five years later and holds in excess of 1,100 inmates.

Well-known past inmates comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Prominent Prisoners

High-profile or at-risk prisoners are generally accommodated in the prison's QB4 ward for “individuals at risk” – the often called “premium block” – in solitary cells, rather than the typical three-inmate cells, and separated during exercise periods for security reasons.

Positioned on the ground floor, the unit has a set of uniform cells and a reserved recreation area so inmates are not forced to interact with other detainees – while they continue to be exposed to whistles, insults and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. In reality, circumstances are very similar as in QB4: the former president will be alone in his cell and accompanied by a corrections officer every time he leaves it.

“The aim is to prevent any problems at all, so we have to block him from encountering fellow detainees,” an insider commented. “The easiest and most effective method is to send Nicolas Sarkozy straight to segregation.”

Cell Conditions

Each of the isolation and VIP cells are similar to those in other parts in the jail, roughly approximately 10 square meters, with window coverings created to limit interaction, a bed, a compact desk, a shower unit, lavatory, and fixed-line phone with authorized contacts only.

Sarkozy is provided with standard meals but will also have access to the prison store, where he can buy groceries to make his own meals, as well as to a individual outdoor space, a fitness room and the library. He can lease a fridge for €7.50 a monthly and a television for €14.15.

Limited Social Contact

In addition to three permitted visits a week, he will mostly be by himself – a privilege in La Santé, which in spite of its recent renovation is running at about twice its planned occupancy of 657 detainees. The country's prisons are the third most congested in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has consistently asserted his non-guilt, has said he will be taking with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an innocent man is condemned to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was additionally taking noise blockers because the jail can be disruptive at during the night, and a few jumpers, because rooms can be cold. Sarkozy has said he is unafraid of serving time in prison and intends to make use of the period to author a publication.

Release Prospects

It remains uncertain, though, the length of time he will really remain in the prison: his lawyers have lodged for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will have to prove a potential of escaping, further crimes or influencing testimony to justify his further imprisonment.

French law specialists have proposed he could be out in less than a month.