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The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir in the coming weeks called Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his experience served behind bars.

This news came just 11 days after the former president left prison as his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict related to unlawful coordination in a case to acquire political financing provided by the regime of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“In prison there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he notes in a preview, indicating the account will focus on his thoughts while in solitary confinement rather than wider commentary of the packed and troubled correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in La Santé, where one hears a lot to hear,” he states. “The racket is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world is strengthened in prison.”

Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, he participated by video link from inside the facility, depicting prison life as exhausting. He had told the court: “I wish to commend to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, and who helped make this difficult experience bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, extremely tough. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

Historical Context

Sarkozy, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president in the European Union and the initial post-WWII figure of France to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he would use his time to compose an account.

Books in Prison

It is not certain whether he had time to review and analyze the three books he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, where a blameless person is imprisoned then breaks out to exact retribution.

Daily Reality

He was held in solitary confinement to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at the correctional facility in the city. Security personnel occupied an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned his diet consisted only yoghurts in prison due to concerns meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Not known is if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

The legal representative, Christophe Ingrain daily during the incarceration, told the release hearing he would be safer released than inside. “There were menacing messages, has heard screaming during nighttime plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

His incarceration began last month following a Paris court gave him a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to acquire election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial set for next spring.