Nicolas Sarkozy Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Detailing His 20 Days Incarcerated
The ex-president of France plans a book next month titled Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling the period endured in jail.
The announcement was made shortly following the former president gained freedom while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds provided by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections
“Inside jail one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he notes in one passage, indicating the account is more about his thoughts while in isolation rather than extensive analysis on the overcrowded and troubled French prison system.
“Quiet is absent, which is missing at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he adds. “The din is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is fortified while incarcerated.”
Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship
At his release request hearing, he was present remotely from inside the facility, depicting prison life as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this ordeal manageable – because it is a nightmare.”
“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”
First of Its Kind
Sarkozy, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as former head from the EU and the first leader since WWII of France to be incarcerated.
Before entering jail he had said he intended to spend the period to compose an account.
Reading Material
It is not certain did he manage to review and analyze the three books he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work the famous story, where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated later flees to exact retribution.
Life in Confinement
The former leader remained secluded for his own security in a cell of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet at the correctional facility in the city. Two bodyguards were stationed in an adjacent room.
Sources mentioned that he had eaten only yoghurts while inside worried that any food might have been spat on. Options were available to cook for himself but refused this, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.
Lawyer’s Statements
His attorney, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings his safety would improve released compared to inside. “He received threats against his life, heard shouts during nighttime and emergency responses next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Legal Proceedings
He entered custody last month when a French court gave him five years in prison for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire political donations for his 2007 presidential race.
He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial planned for the coming spring.