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The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account in the coming weeks named A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his experience endured in jail.

This news came just 11 days after the ex-leader gained freedom while his appeal proceeds the court ruling on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to obtain election campaign funds linked to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Personal Reflections

“In prison there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, indicating the book is more about his reflections during solitary confinement rather than a broader observation on the overcrowded and struggling jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The noise persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life grows stronger in prison.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

During his plea for freedom, he participated by video link from his cell, describing his time inside as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, and who helped make this difficult experience tolerable – as it truly is one.”

“It never crossed my mind at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

The former president, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president from the EU and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

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

Reading Material

It is not certain if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the three books he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the famous story, where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was held secluded due to safety concerns in a space roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison located in the capital. Two bodyguards occupied a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed just yogurt while inside worried that prison cuisine could have been tampered with. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, as per accounts. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly each day while he was in prison, informed the court his safety would improve outside jail compared to inside. “There were menacing messages, heard shouts after dark plus rapid actions next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began on 21 October after a French court imposed five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to obtain campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial planned for early next year.