Police officers will be stationed permanently in neighboring cells throughout Sarkozy's incarceration, France's interior minister said.

Sarkozy’s election marked a generational change for France: Born in Paris in 1955, he was France’s first president with no memory of World War II. A conservative, Sarkozy beat Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal in the election's second-round run-off, thwarting her bid to become France's first woman president.

Sarkozy, who is serving his term at La Santé prison in Paris, said in a statement on social media that he was entering the jail as an "innocent person"

Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France from 2007 to 2012, received a five-year sentence after being convicted in a campaign finance scandal.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy entered a prison in Paris on Tuesday on the first day of a five-year sentence, marking the first time a former leader of modern France has spent time behind bars.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy's lawyers say, as he shows up to a Paris prison to serve a five-year sentence, that they've already appealed for his release.

France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former head of an EU state to be jailed Tuesday, proclaiming his innocence as he entered a Paris prison. Sarkozy's lawyer said a request had been immediately filed for parole but he will remain incarcerated for at least a month.

Barbara VornDick was researching the fifth U.S. president’s daughter. It turned into a years-long odyssey that cast her into the roles of sleuth, genealogist and more.