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The ex-president of France plans a book in the coming weeks titled A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts the period served in custody.

The announcement emerged less than two weeks following the ex-leader left prison as his appeal proceeds the court ruling for unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Time in Custody: Personal Reflections

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he writes in an extract, indicating the book centers around his thoughts during seclusion instead of extensive analysis of the packed and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“I forget silence, not present in La Santé, where noise is constant sound,” he continues. “The racket is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, inner life is fortified behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, Sarkozy participated 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 ordeal tolerable – as it truly is one.”

“I never imagined at this stage of life, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It affects one all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

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

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is did he manage to go through the volumes he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.

Daily Reality

Sarkozy remained in solitary confinement to protect him in a room of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail located in the capital. Security personnel were stationed in the next cell.

Sources mentioned that he consumed only yoghurts during his stay because he feared meals provided could have been tampered with. Options were available to cook for himself but refused this, according to reports. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

The legal representative, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, informed the court he would be safer outside jail than inside. “He has faced menacing messages, listened to yells during nighttime and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a French court imposed a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration related to a plan to acquire campaign funds for his presidential bid.

He disputes the charges challenging the decision, and another court case is scheduled for early next year.