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The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account in the coming weeks named Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his time served behind bars.

This news emerged shortly after the ex-leader left prison while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict related to criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Behind bars visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, suggesting the memoir will focus on his thoughts while in isolation instead of extensive analysis on the strained and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where noise is constant sound,” he states. “The din is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection is fortified while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared remotely from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this difficult experience bearable – as it truly is one.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It has an impact every inmate due to its intensity.”

Historical Context

The former president, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural former head in the European Union and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to experience jail.

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

Cell Library

It remains unclear whether he had time to go through the three books he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus plus the novel by Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned but escapes to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

He remained in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a cell of about nine sq metres including private facilities in the Paris jail in the city. Security personnel stayed in an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he consumed only yoghurts while inside worried that any food may have been contaminated. He had facilities for self-catering but refused this, as per accounts. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings his safety would improve out of prison compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells at night plus rapid actions next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began last month after a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration over a scheme to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and another court case set for next spring.