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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a memoir in the coming weeks called Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his experience spent in custody.

The revelation was made less than two weeks following the former president left prison while he contests the court ruling related to criminal conspiracy in a case to obtain political financing linked to the regime of the late Libyan dictator.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“In prison there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he writes in one passage, indicating the book centers around his reflections while in solitary confinement rather than wider commentary regarding the overcrowded and troubled French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where noise is a lot to hear,” he adds. “The din unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

During his plea for freedom, the former leader had appeared via screen from a room in prison, describing his time inside as exhausting. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, easing this difficult experience bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship I must endure. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It leaves a mark on any prisoner due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, who led the nation for a five-year term, was the first past president in the European Union and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the texts he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

He remained in isolation due to safety concerns in a room approximately nine square meters including private facilities at La Santé prison located in the capital. Security personnel were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned his diet consisted just yogurt during his stay worried that prison cuisine might have been spat on. Options were available to cook for himself yet he declined, as per accounts. It is uncertain if he will detail his dietary choices.

Defense Viewpoint

The legal representative, who saw him regularly each day throughout the jail term, informed the court security would be better outside jail rather than in custody. “He has faced death threats, heard shouts at night and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began on 21 October after a Paris court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to acquire political donations during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and another court case is scheduled for next spring.