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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account this autumn named Notes from a Cell, which recounts his time served in jail.

This news came just 11 days following the ex-leader left prison while he contests the guilty verdict on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to secure presidential race money from the leadership of former Libyan leader.

Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he notes in an extract, indicating the book is more about his thoughts while in seclusion instead of wider commentary on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.

“I forget silence, which is missing at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he adds. “The noise unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, inner life is fortified while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, Sarkozy participated via screen from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, easing this nightmare bearable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark every inmate because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as past president from the EU and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is whether he had time to read and critique the volumes he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts plus the novel by Dumas the famous story, a plot where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy was held in isolation to protect him in a space of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison located in the capital. Security personnel were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned his diet consisted only yoghurts in prison due to concerns prison cuisine could have been tampered with. Although he had access for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client every day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail rather than in custody. “He has faced menacing messages, heard shouts during nighttime and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began on 21 October when a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to acquire election financing during his election campaign.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.