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The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account in the coming weeks titled Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his experience endured in jail.

The announcement came just 11 days after Sarkozy was released as he contests his conviction related to unlawful coordination connected to efforts to acquire political financing linked to the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Personal Reflections

“In prison one sees little, and activities are scarce,” he writes in one passage, suggesting the account is more about his musings while in seclusion instead of extensive analysis regarding the overcrowded and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where noise is a lot to hear,” he adds. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, personal reflection is strengthened behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, Sarkozy had appeared by video link from inside the facility, describing his time inside as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, displaying remarkable compassion, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

He, who led the nation for a five-year term, was the first past president of an EU country and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is did he manage to read and critique the three books he took into prison: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated then breaks out to seek vengeance.

Daily Reality

The former leader was held in isolation due to safety concerns in a room roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom at the correctional facility in the city. Guards occupied the next cell.

Sources mentioned that he consumed solely dairy snacks in prison due to concerns meals provided could have been tampered with. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but refused this, as per accounts. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly each day throughout the jail term, informed the court security would be better out of prison rather than in custody. “There were threats against his life, has heard screaming during nighttime plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began on 21 October following a French court gave him a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to acquire political donations for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial is scheduled for early next year.