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The ex-president of France is preparing a book in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his time spent behind bars.

The revelation was made shortly after the ex-leader left prison while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict on charges of criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire presidential race money linked to the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Personal Reflections

“In prison one sees little, and activities are scarce,” he writes in one passage, indicating the book is more about his musings while in isolation as opposed to extensive analysis on the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“I forget silence, not present in La Santé, where noise is a lot to hear,” he states. “The din is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, inner life grows stronger behind bars.”

Freedom Plea: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, the former leader participated remotely from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, easing this difficult experience bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a trial forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

Historical Context

The former president, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader of an EU country and the first postwar leader from France to serve time in prison.

Prior to imprisonment he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is did he manage to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books plus the novel by Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where an innocent man is imprisoned but escapes to take revenge.

Life in Confinement

He remained in solitary confinement to protect him in a room of about nine sq metres including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Guards occupied the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed only yoghurts during his stay because he feared prison cuisine could have been tampered with. He had facilities to cook for himself but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if the memoir includes meals during incarceration.

Legal Perspective

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain each day during the incarceration, informed the court he would be safer outside jail compared to inside. “There were threats against his life, has heard screaming after dark and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began in late October after the judiciary imposed five years in prison for illegal collaboration related to a plan to secure political donations for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case is scheduled for next spring.