Former French President Sarkozy will serve 5 years in prison on Tuesday

Nicolas Sarkozy He will become the first former French president to be imprisoned in living memory when he is expected to begin his five-year sentence in Paris’s La Sainte prison on Tuesday.

Convicted of criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign by taking money from LibyaSarkozy has maintained his innocence. Despite this, he will be admitted to serve out his time in a prison that has housed some of the most high-profile prisoners since the 19th century. These included Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was wrongly convicted of treason Jewishand this Venezuelan Terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, who carried out several attacks on French soil.

Sarkozy told Le Figaro newspaper that he expected he would be placed in solitary confinement, where he would be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons. Another possibility is that he is kept in the “vulnerable” section of the prison, colloquially known as the VIP section.

Former prisoners of La Sante described their experiences and described what the former president might have faced. The prison, which was inaugurated in 1867, has been completely renovated in recent years.

“This is not Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the Republic, who is coming… This is a man and he will live exactly the same way as everyone else,” Pierre Bouton, a former businessman turned writer who was imprisoned in La Santé prison between 2020 and 2022 for misusing funds from a charitable organization, told The Associated Press.

In an unprecedented decision, Paris The judge ruled that due to “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the crime”, Sarkozy would begin serving his prison sentence without waiting for a hearing on his appeal.

Sarkozy will keep his ‘head held high’

The former president has denied any wrongdoing and protested the ruling that he should be jailed pending an appeal.

Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper, “I am not afraid of prison. I will keep my head held high, even in front of the door of La Santé.” “I will fight to the end.”

La Tribune Dimanche reports that Sarkozy’s prison bag is stocked with the clothes and 10 family photos he is allowed to bring.

Sarkozy also told Le Figaro newspaper that he would bring three books – the maximum allowed – including “The Count of Monte Cristo” in two volumes and a biography of Jesus Christ. The protagonist of “The Count of Monte Cristo” by French writer Alexandre Dumas escapes from an island prison where he spent 14 years before seeking revenge.

Louis, one of Sarkozy’s sons, called a rally in support of his father on Tuesday morning in the upscale Paris neighborhood where Sarkozy lives with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The supermodel-turned-singer has shared photos of Sarkozy’s children and songs in his honor on her social media feed since his conviction.

Under the ruling, Sarkozy, 70, will be able to file a request for release with an appeals court only after he is behind bars, and judges will have up to two months to act on the request.

9-square-meter cells

The national financial prosecutor’s office briefed Sarkozy on the specifics of his detention last Monday, but the details have not been made public. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that Sarkozy would enter La Santé on Tuesday and that he would meet him personally to ensure security conditions were met.

In the so-called VIP section, Sarkozy could have his own room in one of 18 identical 9-square-metre cells (96.8 sq ft) in a wing separate from other ordinary prison inmates.

Botton, who says he has known Sarkozy for decades, expressed doubt that the former president would be given many special privileges in prison. “Even if you are President of the Republic, even if you are a very rich man, you don’t decide anything.”

Based on his own experience inside La Santé, about which he wrote the book “QB4”, Botton described what Sarkozy could expect. After being processed, the convicts are handed individual kits by the guards and then taken to their cells.

“They will open the closet and (Sarkozy) will find out where he will go,” he said. Boughton described the cell he lived in at La Santé: “A small 70-centimetre (2 ft 4 in) bed on the floor, a hot plate, a pay refrigerator, a pay TV.”

He said that the rooms of prisoners in the VIP section were equipped with fixed landline phones, which they can use to make calls, which are recorded by prison authorities, but they cannot receive calls on the same line.

prison shock

Sarkozy’s longtime friend Patrick Balconi, who spent five months in La Sante for tax evasion in 2019-2020, described the newly admitted prisoners’ first hours.

“They are going to take his picture, make a card for him because there we are a number, we are no longer a person with a name,” he told RTL radio.

Then, “if he is treated like any other prisoner, he undresses and his clothing is searched to make sure he does not have any prohibited items on him,” Balkany said.

“The hardest part is when you get to your cell, it’s a shock,” he said.

Boughton also recalled the shock he felt when his prosperous life was shattered when he was sent to prison for the first time. “I went from my 1,200 square meter (about 13,000 square feet) mansion to 9 square meters for the first time,” he said.

He said, despite having a personal staff of 11 people outside the jail, when he arrived he found himself cleaning a dirty cell. “We call it prison shock.”

“When you’re at 7 p.m., you’re in jail, alone, and you hear everything is closed, you’re alone,” says Boughton. “It’s all over. The game is over.”

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AP writer Sylvie Corbett contributed.