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The ex-president of France is preparing a memoir in the coming weeks titled A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his time spent in custody.

The announcement was made less than two weeks after the former president left prison while his appeal proceeds the court ruling on charges of unlawful coordination connected to efforts to secure election campaign funds from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Personal Reflections

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he writes in a preview, indicating the book is more about his reflections while in solitary confinement rather than wider commentary regarding the overcrowded and troubled correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in La Santé, where there is endless commotion,” he states. “The noise unfortunately never stops. But, just like the desert, personal reflection is fortified while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy participated by video link from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, displaying remarkable compassion, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It has an impact all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, who led the nation for a five-year term, became the inaugural former head of an EU country and the first leader since WWII from France to be incarcerated.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he would use his time to write a book.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is whether he had time 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 classic tale, where a blameless person is imprisoned later flees to exact retribution.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy was placed in isolation for his own security in a room of about nine sq metres including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Security personnel stayed in a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned that he consumed just yogurt while inside due to concerns prison cuisine might have been spat on. He had facilities to prepare his own meals yet he declined, as per accounts. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Defense Viewpoint

The legal representative, who saw him regularly daily during the incarceration, informed the court security would be better released than inside. “He received threats against his life, listened to yells at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began on 21 October when the judiciary gave him five years in prison for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and another court case planned for the coming spring.