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Perhaps France’s most legendary prison, La Santé – in which former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year incarceration for unlawful collusion to obtain election financing from the Libyan government – is the only remaining prison inside the French capital's boundaries.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse neighborhood of the city, it first opened in 1867 and was the scene of at least 40 capital punishments, the most recent in 1972. Partly closed for renovation in 2014, the institution resumed operations five years later and holds in excess of 1,100 inmates.

Famous former inmates include poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the government official and collaborator with the Nazis Maurice Papon, the entrepreneur and politician Bernard Tapie, the 70s terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for Notable Prisoners

Notable or at-risk inmates are typically accommodated in the prison's QB4 section for “protected persons” – the dubbed “VIP quarters” – in individual cells, rather than the usual three-inmate rooms, and kept alone during outdoor activities for safety concerns.

Positioned on the ground floor, the section has nineteen similar units and a reserved outdoor space so prisoners are not required to mingle with other prisoners – even though they remain subject to whistles, insults and mobile snapshots from adjacent cells.

Primarily for that reason, Sarkozy is expected to be placed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. Actually, the environment are very similar as in the QB4 ward: the ex-president will be by himself in his room and accompanied by a prison officer whenever he leaves it.

“The goal is to prevent any problems at all, so we need to stop him from encountering any inmates,” a source within the facility revealed. “The simplest and best solution is to send Nicolas Sarkozy straight to isolation.”

Living Quarters

Each of the isolation and VIP rooms are similar to those elsewhere in the institution, averaging around 10 sq metres, with window coverings designed to restrict interaction, a sleeping cot, a writing table, a shower unit, toilet, and landline telephone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will receive typical prison food but will additionally have the option to the commissary, where he can purchase food to cook for himself, as well as to a individual exercise yard, a gym and the book collection. He can pay for a refrigerator for seven euros fifty a per month and a TV for 14.15 euros.

Restricted Visits

Apart from three permitted visits a week, he will primarily be on his own – a luxury in the facility, which notwithstanding its recent renovation is running at roughly double its designed capacity of 657 inmates. France’s correctional facilities are the third most packed in the EU.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly asserted his innocence, has declared he will be taking with him a account of Jesus and a edition of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an wrongly accused individual is given a sentence to jail but flees to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally taking hearing protection because prison can be disruptive at during the night, and multiple sweaters, because cells can be chilly. Sarkozy has commented he is not scared of serving time in jail and plans to use it to write a book.

Uncertain Duration

It is unclear, however, for how long he will actually remain in the prison: his attorneys have already filed for his conditional release, and an reviewing judge will must establish a risk of flight, further crimes or witness-tampering to warrant his further imprisonment.

France's jurists have proposed he could be out within a month.