The Former French President Preparing to Release Jail Diary Documenting His 20 Days Incarcerated

The ex-president of France plans a personal account next month named A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his time spent in jail.

The revelation came shortly following Sarkozy was released as his appeal proceeds his conviction related to illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds provided by the government of former Libyan leader.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail one sees little, and nothing to do,” he writes in an extract, suggesting the account will focus on his musings from isolation as opposed to extensive analysis of the overcrowded and struggling correctional facilities in the country.

“I forget silence, not present at the prison, where noise is endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, personal reflection is fortified in prison.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, he participated by video link from his cell, describing his time inside as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, showing great humanity, easing this nightmare bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It has an impact all who experience it because it’s gruelling.”

Historical Context

He, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, was the first ex-leader of an EU country and the first leader since WWII of France to serve time in prison.

Before entering jail he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

The former leader was placed secluded to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in an adjacent room.

Reports indicated his diet consisted just yogurt while inside due to concerns any food may have been contaminated. Options were available to cook for himself yet he declined, as per accounts. Not known is if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Legal Perspective

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client daily during the incarceration, stated during proceedings security would be better released than inside. “There were threats against his life, heard shouts during nighttime plus rapid actions in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody in late October after the judiciary gave him a half-decade term on conspiracy charges related to a plan to obtain campaign funds for his presidential bid.

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