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Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a personal account in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his experience spent behind bars.

The announcement was made just 11 days following the ex-leader gained freedom while he contests his conviction on charges of criminal conspiracy regarding a scheme to secure presidential race money from the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“Behind bars visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the book is more about his musings from solitary confinement rather than extensive analysis regarding the overcrowded and struggling French prison system.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where one hears a lot to hear,” he states. “The noise unfortunately never stops. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is strengthened in prison.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, the former leader was present via screen from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader from the EU and the first postwar leader of France to serve time in prison.

Before entering jail he declared he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Reading Material

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 together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail later flees to seek vengeance.

Daily Reality

The former leader remained in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a room approximately nine square meters including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Two bodyguards occupied an adjacent room.

It was stated that he had eaten just yogurt in prison because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. Although he had access to cook for himself but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if the memoir includes meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client every day throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings he would be safer outside jail than inside. “He received threats against his life, heard shouts during nighttime and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Case Background

He entered custody last month when the judiciary imposed five years in prison for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for early next year.