“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates,” Sarkozy told La Tribune de Dimanche. He has been ordered to present himself at the gates of La Santé prison in the south of Paris early on Tuesday morning. He said he had asked for “no privileges” in his treatment behind bars.
Sarkozy, 70, told Le Figaro that he had packed family photos and three books, as permitted for the first week. “I’m bringing The Count of Monte Cristo and two volumes of the biography of Jesus by Jean-Christian Petitfils,” he said. He is expected to be held in solitary confinement for his own security, in an individual cell of about 9 metres squared. He will have no mobile phone, but will have a small television. A security-controlled phoneline will allow him contact with his lawyers and family. He is expected to have the right to two visits a week from family. He told Le Figaro that he’d been advised to take earplugs. “At night you hear lots of noise, shouting, screaming,” he said.
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Sarkozy will be able to leave his cell for one hour a day, to walk in an interior courtyard, with the opening to the sky protected by wire mesh. Three prison guards will accompany him when he leaves his cell.
Sarkozy will be able to leave his cell for one hour a day, to walk in an interior courtyard, with the opening to the sky protected by wire mesh. Three prison guards will accompany him when he leaves his cell.
