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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a book this autumn named A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his experience spent behind bars.

This news was made less than two weeks after the former president left prison as he appeals the guilty verdict for unlawful coordination in a case to acquire political financing linked to the leadership of former Libyan leader.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“Behind bars visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he reflects in an extract, implying the memoir will focus on his reflections from isolation as opposed to extensive analysis of the packed and struggling correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing at the prison, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, the former leader was present via screen from a room in prison, describing his time inside as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, easing 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 an ordeal I must endure. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state between 2007 and 2012, was the first past president of an EU country and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to experience jail.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is whether he had time to read and critique the three books he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the famous story, in which a blameless person ends up incarcerated but escapes to take revenge.

Life in Confinement

The former leader was placed in isolation to protect him in a cell of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in Paris. Security personnel occupied an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten only yoghurts in prison because he feared prison cuisine could have been tampered with. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, as per accounts. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Legal Perspective

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly daily while he was in prison, told the release hearing his safety would improve outside jail rather than in custody. “He received threats against his life, has heard screaming during nighttime and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began last month after the judiciary sentenced him to a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to acquire political donations for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial planned for the coming spring.