The ex-president of France will soon publish a book this autumn called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing the period served in jail.
The announcement came less than two weeks after Sarkozy left prison as he contests his conviction for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds linked to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
“In prison one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in a preview, implying the memoir is more about his musings from isolation instead of wider commentary on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.
“I forget silence, which is missing at the prison, where there is constant sound,” he adds. “The din unfortunately never stops. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection is fortified while incarcerated.”
At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from a room in prison, describing his time inside as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who have made this difficult experience bearable – as it truly is one.”
“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It leaves a mark on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”
Sarkozy, who led the nation for a five-year term, became the inaugural former head from the EU and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to be incarcerated.
Ahead of his incarceration he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.
Unconfirmed is whether he had time to review and analyze the volumes he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, where a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to take revenge.
Sarkozy was placed in solitary confinement for his own security in a room roughly 100 square feet including private facilities at the correctional facility in the city. Security personnel stayed in the next cell.
Reports indicated that he had eaten only yoghurts in prison because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if he will detail his dietary choices.
His attorney, who visited his client daily throughout the jail term, told the release hearing security would be better released than inside. “He received threats against his life, listened to yells after dark and emergency responses in an adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed.”
He entered custody on 21 October following the judiciary imposed a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to obtain political donations for his presidential bid.
He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial is scheduled for the coming spring.
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