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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his time served behind bars.

The revelation came just 11 days following the ex-leader was released while he appeals his conviction related to illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to obtain presidential race money from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in an extract, implying the book is more about his musings while in isolation instead of a broader observation regarding the strained and troubled French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where noise is a lot to hear,” he states. “The racket is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, personal reflection is strengthened behind bars.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, he participated remotely from a room in prison, describing his time inside as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this difficult experience manageable – as it truly is one.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, who led the nation between 2007 and 2012, became the inaugural past president of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he would use his time to compose an account.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to go through the texts he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated then breaks out to exact retribution.

Daily Reality

The former leader was placed in isolation for his own security in a space approximately nine square meters with his own shower and toilet at the correctional facility located in the capital. Two bodyguards were stationed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed solely dairy snacks during his stay worried that any food may have been contaminated. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, according to reports. Unclear remains if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Legal Perspective

The legal representative, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings his safety would improve outside jail compared to inside. “He received menacing messages, listened to yells after dark and emergency responses next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

Sarkozy went to prison in late October after a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to secure political donations for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial set for early next year.