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The ex-president of France is preparing a memoir this autumn titled Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his experience served behind bars.

The announcement was made less than two weeks following the ex-leader was released while he appeals the guilty verdict for unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“In prison there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he writes in a preview, implying the book centers around his musings from seclusion rather than a broader observation regarding the packed and struggling French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is strengthened behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy participated via screen from his cell, describing his time inside as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, easing this nightmare tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I never imagined that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It leaves a mark every inmate due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

The former president, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first ex-leader from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure from France to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he intended to spend the period to write a book.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, where an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was placed in isolation due to safety concerns in a space roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom at the correctional facility located in the capital. Two bodyguards occupied an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he consumed just yogurt in prison because he feared any food may have been contaminated. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, as per accounts. Not known is if he will detail his dietary choices.

Legal Perspective

The legal representative, who saw him regularly daily throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings he would be safer released compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells at night and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October when a French court gave him a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case planned for next spring.