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Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a book this autumn called Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his experience endured in jail.

This news was made less than two weeks following the ex-leader was released while his appeal proceeds his conviction related to criminal conspiracy regarding a scheme to obtain political financing linked to the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings

“In prison visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he writes in an extract, implying the memoir centers around his musings during seclusion rather than a broader observation regarding the strained and troubled French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where one hears endless commotion,” he states. “The din unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, personal reflection is fortified in prison.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, Sarkozy participated by video link from inside the facility, describing his time inside as exhausting. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this nightmare manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

Historical Context

The former president, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, became the inaugural ex-leader of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure from France to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time to write a book.

Cell Library

It remains unclear whether he had time to read and critique the volumes he took into prison: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, where a blameless person ends up incarcerated later flees to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy remained in isolation for his own security in a room approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison in the city. Security personnel were stationed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed solely dairy snacks in prison worried that meals provided may have been contaminated. Options were available for self-catering yet he declined, as per accounts. Not known is if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client every day while he was in prison, stated during proceedings he would be safer outside jail compared to inside. “He has faced death threats, listened to yells at night and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October following the judiciary gave him a half-decade term on conspiracy charges related to a plan to secure election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case planned for the coming spring.