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Maybe the nation's most fabled correctional facility, La Santé – in which ex-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy to solicit election financing from Libya – stands as the last remaining prison inside the city of Paris.

Situated in the southern Montparnasse neighborhood of the capital, it was inaugurated in the year 1867 and was the scene of no fewer than 40 death penalties, the last in 1972. Partially shut down for renovation in 2014, the facility reopened half a decade later and houses more than 1,100 prisoners.

Renowned former detainees include the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the unauthorized trader Jérôme Kerviel, the civil servant and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Special Treatment for High-Profile Prisoners

Notable or vulnerable detainees are generally placed in the jail’s QB4 section for “individuals at risk” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, rather than the usual triple-occupancy rooms, and kept alone during outdoor activities for security reasons.

Situated on the ground floor, the ward has nineteen similar units and a reserved outdoor space so inmates are not forced to mingle with other detainees – even though they remain vulnerable to whistles, taunts and cellphone pictures from nearby cells.

Mainly for this reason, Sarkozy will reportedly be held in the segregated section, which is in a separate wing. In reality, the environment are very similar as in the QB4 ward: the former president will be by himself in his unit and escorted by a corrections officer each time he exits.

“The objective is to avoid any problems whatsoever, so we need to block him from coming into contact with any inmates,” an insider stated. “The most straightforward and best method is to place Nicolas Sarkozy straight to segregation.”

Cell Conditions

Each of the isolation and protected rooms are identical to those elsewhere in the institution, roughly approximately eleven square meters, with coverings on windows designed to reduce contact, a sleeping cot, a compact desk, a shower, toilet, and stationary phone with pre-recorded numbers.

Sarkozy will receive standard meals but will also have the ability to the commissary, where he can purchase groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary recreation area, a gym and the book collection. He can lease a refrigerator for €7.50 a month and a TV for 14.15 euros.

Limited Social Contact

Apart from three authorized meetings a each week, he will mainly be by himself – a privilege in La Santé, which despite its recent upgrades is functioning at about twice its planned occupancy of 657 inmates. The country's prisons are the third most packed in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, has declared he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus Christ and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by the author Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to jail but flees to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was additionally packing noise blockers because the facility can be loud at nighttime, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has said he is fearless of serving time in prison and plans to make use of the period to write a book.

Possible Early Release

The duration is unknown, though, the length of time he will actually stay in La Santé: his attorneys have lodged for his early release, and an judge on appeal will need to demonstrate a potential of absconding, reoffending or interfering with witnesses to warrant his ongoing incarceration.

French legal experts have indicated he might be released within a month.