🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a memoir next month called Notes from a Cell, chronicling his experience endured in custody.

This news came less than two weeks following the former president was released as he contests the court ruling for unlawful coordination in a case to acquire political financing from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“In prison there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he reflects in a preview, indicating the account is more about his musings while in isolation as opposed to extensive analysis of the strained and troubled French prison system.

“I forget silence, which is missing at the prison, where noise is constant sound,” he adds. “The racket is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world grows stronger while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

At his release request hearing, he participated by video link from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It affects one all who experience it because it’s gruelling.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, who led the nation between 2007 and 2012, became the inaugural past president from the EU and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to experience jail.

Before entering jail he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to read and critique the volumes he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books plus the novel by Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo, where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

He was held secluded for his own security in a room of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison in Paris. Two bodyguards were stationed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten solely dairy snacks during his stay due to concerns prison cuisine may have been contaminated. Although he had access to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, according to reports. Not known is if he will detail what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain every day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing his safety would improve outside jail than inside. “He has faced threats against his life, has heard screaming during nighttime plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a French court gave him a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, and another court case set for next spring.