On a gray Paris morning on October 21, 2025, the city witnessed a spectacle that would have seemed unthinkable just a decade ago: Nicolas Sarkozy, once the president of France and a towering figure on the European stage, entered La Santé prison to begin a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy. The charge? Conspiring to finance his 2007 presidential campaign with funds from Libya, a scandal that has rocked French politics and sent ripples across the continent.
As Sarkozy crossed the threshold of La Santé, a fortress-like institution notorious for its imposing walls and storied past, the French state was already mobilizing to ensure his safety. According to Reuters and France 24, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had made a highly unusual decision: two police officers, members of the elite security detail that protects former presidents, would be stationed in neighboring cells. Their mission? To guard Sarkozy around the clock, shielding him from potential threats posed by his fellow inmates or anyone who might see an opportunity in the former president’s vulnerability.
“The former president of the republic is entitled to protection because of his status. There is obviously a threat against him, and this protection is being maintained while he is in detention,” Nuñez explained in an interview with Europe 1 radio. He added, “The officers will remain at Sarkozy’s side as long as it is necessary.” This unprecedented arrangement, as reported by The Guardian, involves the officers working rotating shifts, ensuring that the ex-president is never far from their watchful eyes.
Not everyone welcomed this extraordinary measure. The prison guards’ unions, who pride themselves on maintaining order and security within France’s penitentiaries, bristled at the perceived intrusion. Nicolas Peyrin, of the CGT union, told BFM television, “There is no added value.” His sentiment was echoed by Wilfried Fonck, head of another union, who remarked on RTL radio, “They’re basically telling us we don’t know how to do our jobs. Today we have two civilians inside a prison who shouldn’t be there, and who don’t know how the system works. I’ve never seen anything like it in 25 years on the job.”
Despite the uproar, the government’s concern for Sarkozy’s safety is not without precedent. Former heads of state are often considered high-value targets, and the French authorities cited specific threats against Sarkozy as justification for the protection. As Nuñez put it, “It was a decision aimed at ensuring his security in addition, obviously, to everything implemented by the prison administration.”
Sarkozy’s arrival at La Santé marked a dramatic fall from grace for a man who once commanded the world’s attention. He led France from 2007 to 2012, only to become the first former leader of modern France to be incarcerated. His conviction, handed down last month by a Paris court, centered on allegations that he had conspired to raise campaign funds from Libya in exchange for diplomatic favors. The court’s decision to require Sarkozy to begin serving his sentence immediately, even as he appealed, was justified by what it called “the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offence,” according to Al Jazeera.
Sarkozy, for his part, has not gone quietly. On his way to prison, he released a statement on social media, declaring, “An innocent man is being locked up. I will continue to denounce this judicial scandal. The truth will prevail.” His lawyers have filed a request for early release pending appeal, with hopes that the matter could be resolved in his favor by Christmas. Judges have up to two months to review the request, but for now, Sarkozy remains behind bars.
Inside La Santé, Sarkozy occupies a single cell in the isolation unit, a section of the prison reserved for those deemed unsuitable for the general population, often for their own safety. Here, inmates are housed in single cells and kept apart during outdoor activities, ensuring that Sarkozy should not come into contact with other prisoners. He is allowed one hour per day in the prison yard—alone—and is permitted three family visits per week. His wife, singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was among the first to visit, arriving the day after his incarceration, as reported by BFMTV.
Life behind bars is a stark change for the former president. His lawyer, Jean-Michel Darrois, described the conditions to BFMTV: “He is in a nine-meter-squared (nearly 97-square-foot) cell, there is noise all the time. All the prisoners make noise, they shout, they bang on the walls.” Darrois insisted that Sarkozy had received no special treatment, noting, “In principle, given the positions he has held, he should have a different status. He didn’t ask for it, so he doesn’t have it.”
Yet, Sarkozy is trying to make the best of his situation. On his first day in jail, he exercised and began writing a book—a project he had reportedly planned in advance. According to Le Figaro, he brought with him the maximum number of books allowed: three, including The Count of Monte Cristo and a biography of Jesus Christ. Darrois said that Sarkozy’s primary concern was not for himself, but for his loved ones: “If he’s worried about anything, it’s his family.”
Support from his family remains steadfast. Guillaume Sarkozy, the ex-president’s brother, told BFMTV, “I am proud that we share the same name. I am proud that he is going to prison with his head held high, and I am totally convinced of his innocence.”
As Sarkozy’s legal team presses for early release and continues to appeal his conviction, the political reverberations of his imprisonment are still being felt. Sarkozy has consistently maintained his innocence, dismissing the charges as politically motivated. His supporters argue that the case is a judicial overreach, while critics contend that it is a necessary act of accountability for a former leader who crossed the line. The debate, much like Sarkozy’s fate, remains far from settled.
For now, the world watches as a former president adapts to life behind bars, shielded by police officers and surrounded by controversy, his legacy hanging in the balance.
