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Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a memoir next month called Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his time served in jail.

The announcement came shortly after the former president was released as he contests the guilty verdict for illegal collaboration connected to efforts to obtain presidential race money from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he writes in a preview, suggesting the account will focus on his musings from seclusion instead of wider commentary on the packed and crisis-hit French prison system.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where there is constant sound,” he adds. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is fortified in prison.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy was present remotely from his cell, depicting prison life as draining. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, showing great humanity, and who helped make this nightmare manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I never imagined at this stage of life, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

The former president, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president in the European Union and the first postwar leader from France to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.

Reading Material

It is not certain if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated later flees to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy remained secluded to protect him in a space roughly 100 square feet including private facilities at the correctional facility located in the capital. Security personnel stayed in a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten solely dairy snacks in prison due to concerns prison cuisine might have been spat on. Options were available for self-catering but refused this, according to reports. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain daily while he was in prison, informed the court he would be safer outside jail than inside. “He has faced menacing messages, heard shouts after dark plus rapid actions in an adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody on 21 October following a Paris court sentenced him to a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to acquire political donations during his election campaign.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and another court case planned for early next year.