🔗 Share this article

The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account next month called Notes from a Cell, chronicling his experience served behind bars.

The revelation was made just 11 days following Sarkozy left prison as his appeal proceeds the court ruling related to criminal conspiracy regarding a scheme to secure election campaign funds from the government of former Libyan leader.

Time in Custody: Solitary Musings

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he reflects in a preview, implying the memoir will focus on his musings from isolation rather than a broader observation regarding the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing in La Santé, where there is constant sound,” he states. “The noise persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, personal reflection grows stronger behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, the former leader participated via screen from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, and who helped make this nightmare tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

Sarkozy, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader in the European Union and the first postwar leader of France to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he would use his time to write a book.

Reading Material

It is not certain did he manage to go through the three books he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, in which a blameless person ends up incarcerated then breaks out to seek vengeance.

Daily Reality

Sarkozy was placed in isolation to protect him in a cell roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet at the correctional facility located in the capital. Two bodyguards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten solely dairy snacks while inside due to concerns meals provided might have been spat on. He had facilities to cook for himself but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Legal Perspective

His attorney, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, informed the court his safety would improve outside jail compared to inside. “There were menacing messages, heard shouts during nighttime and the urgent intervention next door when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October following the judiciary sentenced him to a half-decade term on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges challenging the decision, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.