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The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir next month named Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his time endured in custody.

This news was made shortly after Sarkozy left prison as his appeal proceeds his conviction for illegal collaboration in a case to secure presidential race money from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he writes in an extract, indicating the account centers around his reflections during isolation as opposed to a broader observation on the overcrowded and struggling French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing in that facility, where noise is a lot to hear,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, inner life grows stronger in prison.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge the correctional officers, showing great humanity, easing this difficult experience tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“It never crossed my mind at this stage of life, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It has an impact on any prisoner due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural former head from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure from France to be incarcerated.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Reading Material

It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the famous story, where a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned then breaks out to take revenge.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy was placed in solitary confinement for his own security in a space approximately nine square meters including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Guards were stationed in the next cell.

Sources mentioned that he consumed solely dairy snacks while inside worried that meals provided might have been spat on. Options were available to cook for himself but he turned this down, according to reports. Not known is if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

His attorney, Christophe Ingrain daily throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings he would be safer out of prison than inside. “There were threats against his life, has heard screaming after dark and emergency responses in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody in late October after the judiciary sentenced him to a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to obtain political donations for his presidential bid.

He maintains his innocence and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case set for early next year.