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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a memoir next month named Diary of a Prisoner, detailing his experience served behind bars.

This news was made just 11 days following the former president left prison while he contests the court ruling on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to obtain political financing from the leadership of former Libyan leader.

Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he reflects in a preview, indicating the book is more about his musings during seclusion instead of wider commentary regarding the overcrowded and struggling jail system in France.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he continues. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, inner life grows stronger while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy participated by video link from a room in prison, describing his time inside as draining. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, easing this difficult experience bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, was the first past president from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is whether he had time to go through the three books he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, where a blameless person ends up incarcerated later flees to seek vengeance.

Daily Reality

Sarkozy was held secluded due to safety concerns in a room approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison located in the capital. Security personnel occupied an adjacent room.

Reports indicated his diet consisted just yogurt in prison due to concerns prison cuisine might have been spat on. He had facilities for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Defense Viewpoint

His attorney, who saw him regularly every day while he was in prison, told the release hearing his safety would improve out of prison rather than in custody. “There were death threats, listened to yells at night plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison in late October when a Paris court gave him a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial set for the coming spring.