Nicolas Sarkozy Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Detailing His 20 Days Behind Bars

The ex-president of France is preparing a book this autumn called Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period served in custody.

The announcement emerged shortly following the former president left prison while he contests the guilty verdict for criminal conspiracy regarding a scheme to obtain presidential race money from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“In prison one sees little, and nothing to do,” he notes in an extract, implying the account is more about his reflections while in seclusion rather than extensive analysis of the overcrowded and troubled French prison system.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where there is endless commotion,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world grows stronger while incarcerated.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, the former leader had appeared via screen from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this ordeal bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I never imagined at this stage of life, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, deeply straining. It leaves a mark on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as former head from the EU and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he would use his time to compose an account.

Cell Library

It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to go through the volumes he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated later flees to exact retribution.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a space approximately nine square meters including private facilities in the Paris jail in Paris. Security personnel were stationed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed just yogurt while inside worried that prison cuisine may have been contaminated. He had facilities to prepare his own meals yet he declined, as per accounts. Not known is if he will detail what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings he would be safer out of prison rather than in custody. “He received threats against his life, heard shouts during nighttime and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October following a French court gave him a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges challenging the decision, with a new trial set for next spring.