🔗 Share this article

The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir this autumn named A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts his experience endured behind bars.

This news emerged less than two weeks after Sarkozy gained freedom as he contests the guilty verdict for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire political financing provided by the regime of former Libyan leader.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“In prison one sees little, and activities are scarce,” he writes in one passage, implying the memoir centers around his thoughts from seclusion as opposed to extensive analysis of the overcrowded and struggling correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, not present in that facility, where noise is constant sound,” he continues. “The racket is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, the former leader participated by video link from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, easing this nightmare bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. 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.”

Historical Context

Sarkozy, who led the nation between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It remains unclear whether he had time to go through the three books he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned then breaks out to take revenge.

Life in Confinement

He was held secluded due to safety concerns in a cell approximately nine square meters including private facilities in the Paris jail in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten solely dairy snacks while inside worried that meals provided might have been spat on. Options were available to cook for himself but he turned this down, according to reports. It is uncertain if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

His attorney, who visited his client each day throughout the jail term, informed the court security would be better outside jail than inside. “He has faced threats against his life, heard shouts after dark and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison last month following a French court gave him a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration over a scheme to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case set for the coming spring.