The historic La Sante prison where Sarkozy will go – In a VIP wing with TV and telephone

After the daze of Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction successful the Libyan run concern case, the question dominating France is wherever the erstwhile president volition beryllium taken to service his sentence.

Although the authorities person yet to instrumentality an authoritative position, insiders successful the situation strategy judge that the astir apt script is his incarceration astatine Paris’ historical La Santé.

La Santé, with a agelong past that includes the detention of the infamous “Carlos the Jackal” and erstwhile Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, has a peculiar helping for “vulnerable people”. There, successful the alleged ‘VIP section’, governmental figures specified arsenic a erstwhile adjacent subordinate of Sarkozy, Claude Guéhain, person been imprisoned successful the past. Prisoners successful this ward reside successful azygous cells, isolated from extracurricular activities for information reasons, but otherwise, conditions are not peculiarly antithetic from the remainder of the prison.

The conditions of detention

As Julien Fishmeister of the International Prison Observatory notes, La Santé has precocious been renovated and the facilities are amended than different prisons successful the country. The cells (9-12 quadrate meters) person their ain showers, and Sarkozy could person entree to a telephone and television, astatine a outgo of 14 euros a month. Meals are delivered to prisoners, and it is imaginable to bargain products to hole nutrient wrong the cell.

“We don’t privation situation connected anyone, but it is worthy noting that this clip a typical of a societal ellipse that usually avoids imprisonment is faced with this reality,” commented Fishmeister.

For Sarkozy himself, who arsenic president had adopted pugnacious anti-crime rhetoric, describing young troublemakers arsenic “scum”, the situation acquisition whitethorn beryllium peculiarly difficult, Reuters commented.

Overcrowding and authorities pressure

Despite renovations, La Santé faces a superior overcrowding problem. According to August figures, 1,243 radical are being held determination portion its capableness is 657.

At the aforesaid time, the French government, nether the enactment of Justice Minister Gérard Darmanin, is promoting tougher detention conditions for unsafe prisoners. But the world shows that prisons are inactive a hotbed of transgression activity: amerciable mobile phones, orders for attacks, adjacent repast transportation via drones.

In this environment, Sarkozy’s impending imprisonment is expected to beryllium a watershed lawsuit for the French governmental country and for the situation system, which has been criticized for inequalities successful the attraction of prisoners.

The past of La Santé situation successful Paris

La Santé situation is 1 of the astir celebrated and “symbolic” penitentiaries successful France. It was built successful 1867, successful the Montparnasse territory of Paris, and archetypal opened successful 1868. Its sanction (“The Health”) comes from the thoroughfare wherever it is located, Rue de la Santé.

It was primitively designed arsenic a exemplary situation with an accent connected power and isolation of prisoners, based connected the American “Philadelphia system”, with idiosyncratic cells for each prisoner. It gradually evolved into a “high-security” prison, wherever governmental prisoners, terrorists, and well-known personalities were sent.

Among its astir celebrated prisoners were Carlos the Jackal, Manuel Noriega, arsenic good arsenic French politicians and businessmen convicted of fiscal oregon governmental scandals. Until 1972, La Santé besides operated a guillotine execution chamber.

The situation experienced important complaints astir inhumane surviving conditions (overcrowding, violence, suicides). It was temporarily closed successful 2014 for a implicit renovation and reopened successful 2019, with modern cells, improved sanitary conditions, and peculiar wards for susceptible prisoners, specified arsenic governmental figures oregon high-risk individuals.

Today it remains 1 of France’s astir iconic penitentiaries, with a capableness of astir 650 prisoners, though successful signifier it houses doubly that number.