🔗 Share this article The Former French President Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Chronicling Three Weeks Behind Bars Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account this autumn titled Notes from a Cell, chronicling his experience endured in custody. The announcement was made just 11 days after the former president was released while his appeal proceeds his conviction related to criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds provided by the leadership of former Libyan leader. Prison Experience: Solitary Musings “Inside jail visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he writes in a preview, suggesting the book centers around his thoughts from seclusion instead of a broader observation on the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France. “Quiet is absent, not present in that facility, where noise is a lot to hear,” he states. “The racket persists relentlessly. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world is strengthened behind bars.” Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal At his release request hearing, he had appeared remotely from inside the facility, describing his time inside as exhausting. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, displaying remarkable compassion, easing this ordeal tolerable – as it truly is one.” “It never crossed my mind at this stage of life, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship I must endure. I confess it’s hard, deeply straining. It affects one all who experience it because it’s gruelling.” Unprecedented Situation Sarkozy, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, became the inaugural past president from the EU and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to serve time in prison. Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time to write a book. Reading Material It is not certain whether he had time to go through the texts he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts plus the novel by Dumas the famous story, a plot where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge. Daily Reality The former leader was held in isolation for his own security in a room approximately nine square meters featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail in Paris. Guards stayed in an adjacent room. It was stated his diet consisted only yoghurts during his stay because he feared any food might have been spat on. Although he had access to cook for himself yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Unclear remains if he will detail his dietary choices. Legal Perspective Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain daily during the incarceration, told the release hearing security would be better out of prison than inside. “There were threats against his life, listened to yells after dark and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.” Charges and Sentence Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a Paris court gave him a half-decade term for illegal collaboration related to a plan to secure political donations for his presidential bid. He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial planned for next spring.