The Former French President to Pen Jail Diary Documenting His 20 Days In Custody

Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a book next month titled Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts the period served in custody.

The announcement emerged less than two weeks after the former president left prison as he contests the guilty verdict for illegal collaboration connected to efforts to obtain political financing linked to the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections

“In prison one sees little, and activities are scarce,” he notes in an extract, implying the book will focus on his musings during seclusion as opposed to a broader observation on the packed and struggling correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where there is endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life grows stronger in prison.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, Sarkozy was present remotely from a room in prison, describing his time inside as draining. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this difficult experience manageable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

He, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader from the EU and the first postwar leader of France to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the volumes he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books 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 placed in isolation to protect him in a cell of about nine sq metres including private facilities at the correctional facility in the city. Security personnel stayed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed only yoghurts during his stay worried that meals provided may have been contaminated. Although he had access to prepare his own meals but refused this, according to reports. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Legal Perspective

The legal representative, Christophe Ingrain every day throughout the jail term, informed the court security would be better out of prison compared to inside. “There were menacing messages, listened to yells after dark and emergency responses in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Case Background

He entered custody in late October after the judiciary gave him a half-decade term on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to obtain election financing for his presidential bid.

He disputes the charges and is contesting the ruling, and another court case planned for next spring.