🔗 Share this article The Former French President Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Chronicling Two Dozen Days In Custody Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a personal account next month titled Notes from a Cell, which recounts his time spent in custody. The revelation was made less than two weeks following the former president left prison as he appeals his conviction for illegal collaboration connected to efforts to secure election campaign funds from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi. Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings “Inside jail visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he writes in an extract, suggesting the memoir is more about his reflections while in seclusion rather than wider commentary of the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system. “Quiet is absent, not present in that facility, where there is endless commotion,” he states. “The racket is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world is strengthened while incarcerated.” Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal While appealing for release, he participated by video link from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He had told the court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, and who helped make this nightmare 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 admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it because it’s gruelling.” Unprecedented Situation The former president, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, was the first ex-leader in the European Union and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to be incarcerated. Prior to imprisonment he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account. Books in Prison It is not certain whether he had time to read and critique the volumes he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail then breaks out to take revenge. Prison Conditions The former leader remained in solitary confinement for his own security in a space approximately nine square meters including private facilities at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in a neighbouring cell. Reports indicated his diet consisted solely dairy snacks during his stay worried that prison cuisine may have been contaminated. Although he had access for self-catering yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration. Legal Perspective The legal representative, who visited his client daily throughout the jail term, told the release hearing security would be better out of prison than inside. “There were threats against his life, has heard screaming after dark and the urgent intervention next door when a prisoner self-harmed.” Charges and Sentence He entered custody in late October when a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to obtain campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race. He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial is scheduled for early next year.