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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account this autumn called Notes from a Cell, detailing his experience endured in jail.

The revelation was made just 11 days following the former president was released while he appeals the guilty verdict for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings

“Behind bars visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he writes in one passage, indicating the memoir is more about his thoughts while in solitary confinement rather than a broader observation on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in La Santé, where noise is endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world is fortified while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared by video link from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this nightmare manageable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“It never crossed my mind at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

He, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, set a precedent as ex-leader in the European Union and the first leader since WWII of France to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account.

Cell Library

It remains unclear whether he had time to go through the texts he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a blameless person is sentenced to jail then breaks out to exact retribution.

Prison Conditions

He was placed in solitary confinement for his own security in a room roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail located in the capital. Guards were stationed in an adjacent room.

It was stated his diet consisted only yoghurts while inside because he feared prison cuisine might have been spat on. Options were available to prepare his own meals yet he declined, according to reports. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, told the release hearing security would be better outside jail than inside. “He has faced death threats, heard shouts after dark plus rapid actions in an adjacent room during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Case Background

He entered custody in late October when a French court imposed a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds during his election campaign.

He maintains his innocence challenging the decision, with a new trial planned for early next year.