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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account in the coming weeks titled A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts the period endured behind bars.

The revelation emerged less than two weeks after the former president gained freedom as his appeal proceeds the court ruling related to illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds provided by the leadership of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in a preview, suggesting the book centers around his thoughts from seclusion instead of wider commentary of the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where noise is endless commotion,” he adds. “The racket persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, personal reflection is strengthened behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

During his plea for freedom, the former leader participated remotely from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He had told the court: “I wish to commend to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, easing this difficult experience bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s an ordeal I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

Unprecedented Situation

He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural former head from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure from France to experience jail.

Before entering jail he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is did he manage to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to exact retribution.

Daily Reality

He was held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a space roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail located in the capital. Guards stayed in an adjacent room.

It was stated his diet consisted just yogurt while inside due to concerns prison cuisine might have been spat on. He had facilities to prepare his own meals yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about his dietary choices.

Legal Perspective

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client daily during the incarceration, informed the court his safety would improve released compared to inside. “He received death threats, listened to yells during nighttime and emergency responses next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October when a French court imposed five years in prison on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to obtain campaign funds during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial is scheduled for the coming spring.