🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a memoir this autumn named Notes from a Cell, chronicling the period endured in custody.

The revelation came just 11 days after Sarkozy left prison while he appeals his conviction for unlawful coordination connected to efforts to obtain political financing provided by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in a preview, indicating the book is more about his thoughts from solitary confinement instead of a broader observation of the packed and troubled correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where there is a lot to hear,” he adds. “The noise is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

At his release request hearing, the former leader had appeared remotely from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this difficult experience tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It leaves a mark on any prisoner due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

The former president, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, set a precedent as past president from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

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

Reading Material

It is not certain whether he had time to read and critique the three books he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, in which a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated then breaks out to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

He was placed in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards occupied the next cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten only yoghurts during his stay due to concerns any food might have been spat on. He had facilities to cook for himself but he turned this down, as per accounts. It is uncertain if he will detail his dietary choices.

Lawyer’s Statements

The legal representative, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, told the release hearing his safety would improve out of prison than inside. “He has faced death threats, listened to yells after dark and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October following the judiciary imposed a half-decade term on conspiracy charges related to a plan to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial planned for early next year.