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The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir in the coming weeks titled Notes from a Cell, detailing his experience spent in custody.

The announcement emerged less than two weeks after the former president gained freedom as his appeal proceeds the court ruling for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire presidential race money linked to the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in an extract, indicating the account is more about his thoughts from isolation as opposed to wider commentary on the overcrowded and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“I forget silence, which is missing in La Santé, where one hears endless commotion,” he continues. “The din is alas constant. But, just like the desert, inner life is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy was present via screen from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who helped make this nightmare manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a trial I must endure. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It leaves a mark on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, was the first former head from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure of France to experience jail.

Before entering jail he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.

Reading Material

It is not certain if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the volumes 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 wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

He was held in isolation due to safety concerns in a cell of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at the correctional facility in Paris. Security personnel occupied a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten just yogurt in prison due to concerns prison cuisine may have been contaminated. Options were available for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Unclear remains if the memoir includes meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, told the release hearing security would be better out of prison compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, heard shouts after dark plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October following a Paris court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to acquire political donations during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, with a new trial is scheduled for the coming spring.