🔗 Share this article The Former French President Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Chronicling Three Weeks Incarcerated Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his time served in custody. The revelation emerged just 11 days following the former president left prison while he appeals his conviction related to unlawful coordination in a case to obtain election campaign funds from the government of former Libyan leader. Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts “In prison one sees little, and nothing to do,” he notes in a preview, indicating the memoir will focus on his thoughts during seclusion as opposed to extensive analysis on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system. “Silence escapes me, not present in that facility, where one hears a lot to hear,” he continues. “The din persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world grows stronger in prison.” Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship While appealing for release, Sarkozy was present remotely from a room in prison, depicting prison life as exhausting. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.” “I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.” First of Its Kind Sarkozy, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure from France to experience jail. Prior to imprisonment he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book. Books in Prison It is not certain if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the volumes he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, where an innocent man is imprisoned but escapes to take revenge. Prison Conditions Sarkozy was placed secluded due to safety concerns in a space approximately nine square meters featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in the city. Guards stayed in the next cell. Reports indicated that he had eaten only yoghurts while inside due to concerns meals provided may have been contaminated. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison. Defense Viewpoint The legal representative, who visited his client every day throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings his safety would improve out of prison compared to inside. “He received threats against his life, listened to yells during nighttime plus rapid actions next door as a detainee harmed themselves.” Charges and Sentence He entered custody last month following a French court gave him five years in prison on conspiracy charges over a scheme to secure election financing for his presidential bid. He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial planned for the coming spring.