Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Prison Memoir Documenting His 20 Days Incarcerated

Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a memoir in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his experience served behind bars.

The revelation was made just 11 days following the ex-leader left prison while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire presidential race money provided by the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“In prison one sees little, and nothing to do,” he reflects in a preview, indicating the memoir is more about his thoughts from seclusion instead of a broader observation of the strained and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The racket unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, he had appeared remotely from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact all who experience it due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, became the inaugural former head in the European Union and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to experience jail.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Books in Prison

It remains unclear whether he had time to review and analyze the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy was held in isolation to protect him in a space roughly 100 square feet including private facilities at La Santé prison in the city. Guards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated his diet consisted just yogurt during his stay because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. Although he had access for self-catering but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Defense Viewpoint

His attorney, who saw him regularly daily throughout the jail term, informed the court his safety would improve outside jail compared to inside. “He has faced menacing messages, has heard screaming after dark plus rapid actions in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

Sarkozy went to prison last month when a French court imposed a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration related to a plan to secure political donations during his election campaign.

He disputes the charges challenging the decision, and a fresh trial is scheduled for next spring.