🔗 Share this article The Former French President Set to Write Jail Diary Detailing His 20 Days Incarcerated The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account in the coming weeks titled A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his time served behind bars. The announcement was made just 11 days following Sarkozy was released while he contests his conviction related to unlawful coordination in a case to secure presidential race money provided by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Prison Experience: Personal Reflections “In prison visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, indicating the memoir centers around his thoughts while in solitary confinement instead of extensive analysis regarding the strained and struggling jail system in France. “Quiet is absent, not present in La Santé, where there is endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is strengthened in prison.” Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal During his plea for freedom, he was present by video link from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare manageable – because it is a nightmare.” “I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It leaves a mark all who experience it due to its intensity.” Unprecedented Situation Sarkozy, who led the nation for a five-year term, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the first leader since WWII of France to serve time in prison. Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir. Cell Library It remains unclear did he manage to review and analyze the texts he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated then breaks out to take revenge. Daily Reality Sarkozy remained in isolation to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison located in the capital. Two bodyguards stayed in the next cell. It was stated that he had eaten just yogurt in prison worried that any food may have been contaminated. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, as per accounts. It is uncertain if he will detail meals during incarceration. Legal Perspective The legal representative, who visited his client every day while he was in prison, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail compared to inside. “He received menacing messages, heard shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.” Charges and Sentence His incarceration began last month following a French court gave him five years in prison for criminal conspiracy in connection with efforts to obtain political donations for his presidential bid. He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial is scheduled for early next year.