The Former French President Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Documenting Three Weeks Incarcerated

Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a book this autumn named Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his experience endured in custody.

This news emerged less than two weeks after the former president gained freedom while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to acquire election campaign funds linked to the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Personal Reflections

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he notes in a preview, implying the account is more about his musings from seclusion instead of wider commentary on the packed and troubled jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in that facility, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, inner life is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, Sarkozy participated via screen from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who have made this difficult experience manageable – as it truly is one.”

“I never imagined at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, became the inaugural ex-leader of an EU country and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is whether he had time to go through the texts he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy remained in isolation to protect him in a cell roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail in Paris. Guards occupied the next cell.

It was stated that he had eaten solely dairy snacks while inside because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. He had facilities to cook for himself but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Unclear remains if he will detail what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly daily throughout the jail term, told the release hearing his safety would improve released compared to inside. “He received death threats, has heard screaming during nighttime and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Case Background

He entered custody on 21 October when the judiciary imposed a half-decade term for illegal collaboration over a scheme to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial set for early next year.