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Perhaps the nation's most fabled jail, La Santé – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year jail term for illegal conspiracy to solicit campaign funds from Libya – stands as the sole surviving prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Located in the southern Montparnasse district of the city, it opened in 1867 and was the site of at least 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the facility reopened five years later and holds in excess of 1,100 detainees.

Famous past prisoners comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, the tycoon and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for High-Profile Inmates

Prominent or endangered inmates are typically placed in the jail’s QB4 unit for “protected persons” – the often called “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, not the typical triple-occupancy cells, and isolated during exercise periods for security reasons.

Located on the first floor, the section has a set of uniform units and a private outdoor space so detainees are not forced to interact with fellow inmates – while they continue to be vulnerable to calls, insults and cellphone pictures from neighboring units.

Mostly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the isolation ward, which is in a isolated area. In reality, conditions are largely identical as in QB4: the past leader will be by himself in his unit and supervised by a corrections officer each time he leaves it.

“The objective is to avoid any incidents at all, so we have to block him from coming into contact with other prisoners,” a prison source revealed. “The most straightforward and best approach is to assign Nicolas Sarkozy immediately to segregation.”

Accommodation Details

Each of the solitary and protected rooms are similar to those in other parts in the institution, roughly about 10 square meters, with window blinds intended to restrict interaction, a bed, a small desk, a shower, toilet, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will be served typical prison food but will also have the ability to the canteen, where he can purchase food to prepare himself, as well as to a small solitary outdoor space, a gym and the book collection. He can pay for a fridge for €7.50 a monthly and a television set for €14.15.

Limited Social Contact

Besides three allowed visits a each week, he will primarily be by himself – an advantage in La Santé, which in spite of its modernization is running at roughly double its designed capacity of 657 inmates. France’s jails are the third most congested in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has consistently protested his non-guilt, has said he will be carrying with him a biography of Jesus and a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to jail but escapes to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s legal counsel, Jean-Michel Darrois, said he was also taking noise blockers because the facility can be disruptive at during the night, and a few jumpers, because units can be cold. Sarkozy has stated he is not scared of being in jail and intends to utilize the time to compose a manuscript.

Possible Early Release

It remains uncertain, however, how long he will actually be housed in La Santé: his legal team have already filed for his premature release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a potential of flight, repeat offenses or witness-tampering to justify his further imprisonment.

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